STAR WARS: THE EPIC
by JanusGreejatus
Summary: This takes place right after The Empire Strikes Back. A new female character falls pawn to the disdain between Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader. As her relationship with the Emperor builds, her relationship with Vader is revealed in flashbacks. When it all goes up in flames, who has anyone's best interests at heart? No AU- As with Rouge 1 this tale dovetails into the screen story.
1. Chapter 1 PART 1 First Sight

**(I DO NOT OWN STAR WARS NOR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS) ****Author's note- I respect Star Wars too much to change it. This is not an alternate universe story and there is no time travel. This tale of a background character takes place between and during T_he Empire Strikes Back_ and _Return of the Jedi_ and dovetails into the screen story. I read somewhere that Darth Vader had around thirty minutes of screen time in the first 3 films combined, and of course Palpatine had much less. I've tried to flesh out these personalities and I've flipped the story time spent with the Rebellion and the Empire. Let's see if I can make it interesting without ruining the bad guys' mystique. Feedback would be much appreciated!**

* * *

The Epic: FIRST SIGHT

The pain was unfathomable. She wailed in shock and tried to remain focused, but she had to glance down where her blaster and her hand _used_ to be. The Sentinels all seemed to move a step closer, oversized goons with humming electroblades and glowing red eyes in the dim of the lab. She raised her left hand, in which she grasped an exceeding rare object -the Emperor's own lightsaber. This was the absolute worst of days.

But in it she recalled the very best of days - the brief moment in time when she was not accounted for, fallen off the face of the galaxy. Vader knew what she wanted of him. He would reward her with part of it. They were alone at his fortress castle. But even in rare respite, he'd still have important things to attended to, insurrections to crush, paperwork. And in that time he let her work out in the Dojo. "How much did all this equipment cost, that I destroyed?" she wanted to apologize. _Ever the accountant_, he mused to himself. He offered one bit of advice, "Why don't you practice with your left hand for a while?"

"Ha!" she smiled. "When will I ever be fighting with a lightsaber, much less a saber and only one hand?"

* * *

Another day, a long time before…

She contacted the bridge, to ask Admiral Ozzel why the ship was in an asteroid field, but she was told there was no Admiral Ozzel anymore. While the fires were still smoldering from the assault on Hoth, the Imperials housed her in their finest guest quarters. A female anomaly in civilian clothes, she could leave the suite to wander the immense ship Executor, but she was no better than a prisoner just as the first time she stepped aboard Imperial metal. She had nothing to do. She slept in. She drank. She took spice and thought about Hoth, the four other minor bases which suffered simultaneous assault, and her part in it as an Imperial spy.

The officers aboard gloated. They told her how many rebels were captured alive and what leads had been tortured out of them. They were considerably more humble when Luke Skywalker escaped. She had to suppress a smile.

Once a message came from Vader himself. He advised her to look out the viewport at the planet below, that the battle raging was another rebel outpost in its final moments. The tip to its location was gleaned from one of the Hoth prisoners.

She already had the shield wall open and was watching. From her vantage point the scene was nothing more than a few distant sparks. Only moments later the lack of them was deafening.

She had complied and she had sabotaged, and she didn't know how much of either was common knowledge. There hadn't been a debriefing, but why would there be? Vader knew everything. One officer had mentioned in passing that a probe droid had been sent to Hoth to ensure her cover wasn't blown. Did they have a next mission for her? The rebels were so crippled…

But it seemed Vader had kept it to himself; insurrection of a key player, however fleeting and of little consequence, would not reflect well on him. All was clear when his report was released. And then word came.

A medal? An award personally bestowed by the Emperor himself? For Vader's part certainly, but she felt falsely exalted for reasons beyond her. It seemed wholly inappropriate that she would be receiving the same accolade for her respective part in the Echo Base finale. And then she began to wonder; was the Emperor manipulating Darth Vader or vice versa?

* * *

Her quarters were expansive and even more of the suite had been closed off as unnecessary for the single occupant. Sleek, although cold, furnishings- were built in or bolted to the floor. Three rooms were for sleeping. There were even amenities for entertaining and recreation. One space housed something between a tub and a small pool. If it was a tub, it was obscenely decadent. She'd run the water as hot as it came, soak the frozen Hoth away, and drown the memory of those familiar. There was a list somewhere; the names of the captured and the deceased, and even those she'd tracked down through funding the Alliance. "Luke…"

Why did she help destroy them, and given a second chance, would she have done it again? She pushed the thought to the back of her head.

_ 'In two days, I'll be in the same room with the most powerful person in the universe.'_

* * *

And that day had finally arrived. The rust orb of Coruscant loomed outside the docking bay shield, and the imperial shuttle for the quick trip over sat ready. A squadron of stormtroopers stood in formation for heightened ceremony. Darth Vader was already there, a red sash draped over his shoulder and crowded with earlier medals. A good third of them were of seemingly no consequence, and hidden up under his cape. She was so used to his voice, the breathing, but not the presence. It was at once exhilarating and unnerving.

But he was staring at her attire. _Where did she get that garb?_ Her shoulders were wrapped in a wide band of the most intricate bronze filigree trim. Silver fabric draped down tight to the waist then full below and in the back, formed something like a train. He was annoyed with the haughty formality. But again, her clothing was perfectly appropriate for an audience with the Emperor. And were they not her strong points, her ability to ascertain and manipulate? Her resourcefulness?

The outfit wasn't part of the shipment dumped in her quarters- the meager personal collection from years earlier that had been stored and returned to her. That clothing was now ill-fitting from her thinness caused by stress. She hadn't a reference point, but nothing in the lot seemed worthy of the impending occasion.

She made her way to one of the service sectors and found a pack of droids tasked with repairing officer's attire. No one had thought to instill the droids with protocol to weigh authority, so they took directive from the live human who was actually there. Uniforms were constructed elsewhere and rarely completely fabricated on board. But the droids were able to assemble a gown for her with patterns in their archives. She had looked at hundreds and chose carefully. The materials on hand were limited, but they pulled out a ceremonial cloak from storage. Dusty and fragile with age, it had been brought to them to identify and left having no other purpose. She studied the robe, having never seen something so elaborate in person before- heavy fabric with a multitude of complex folds, the opulent trim of time intensive handmade metallic knots and twisted threads. It hinted of worlds and ways of life so very distant from the oily innards of imperial service facilities. In the process of identification, the files for the construction of a thousand costumes downloaded for their research, were left in their data banks. But the droids had no memory of the individual who had worn the royal garb, or what happened to him. She turned the garment over in her hands. The knife holes and accompanying dark stains were a relevant clue. 'Nothoiin,' the droids had concluded. The trimmings were promptly removed.

The new fabric available was wholly predictable. Black, grey, green grey…more black. But the grey sheets on the bed of her high end quarters had a subtle sheen. The house keeping droid took no notice of their absence and simply replaced them.

* * *

When Vader boarded the shuttle she followed and sat near to him. "The Emperor…" he began, his voice low though the pilots were beyond earshot, "…you've heard, I'm sure. He has suffered physically. He has battle scars.

"Eva…the award is not simply a medal. It is advancement. Your standing with the rebels is comprised, so you will be given the rank of Captain and command of a ship."

She looked at him in amazement. "I don't have that kind of experience."

Later he would tell her, how refreshing it was to converse with someone who both respected his position, yet did not kowtow. His answer was curt. "The Empire isn't given to letting unworthy individuals control their firepower. You will first complete the appropriate training."

"Why can't I just take a reward and be done? Go home?"

"Home?" he mused.

She understood it wasn't a question. He was mocking her place of origin. She hadn't come from a world particularly awful. It just wasn't much of anything.

"You excelled with your mission," he continued. "It suited you, like it or not. Your aptitude testing indicates you'll be adequate in this new assignment." The Empire needed to be perceived as rewarding those who served it well, owing to the Orson Krennic debacle.

Eva lowered her voice further. "When will the device be removed?"

Vader turned towards her. "It's inactive. Can't you tell? Do you want to go under the knife again? Forget that it's there."

* * *

_'In ten minutes, I'll be in the same room as the most powerful person in the universe,'_ she sighed.

A courtier, in stiff purple robes with red trim, greeted them within the Supplicants Waiting Hall of the Imperial Palace, and followed into the turbolift. He eyed her approvingly, then began, "It is an immense privilege to have an audience with our Emperor. The subsequent deference will be expected." The courtier directed his protocols at Eva. Vader knew the routine.

"You will not address our Emperor unless he addresses you. Do not make eye contact with our Emperor. You will not approach our Emperor within four arm's length..." There was more, but she was distracted. The turbolift had become noticeably colder. Little did she know, that not too distant she'd be wearing purple and reciting the courtier's lines.

The doors parted and a cold blast of air was sucked into the turbolift. Eva was disconcerted. Why weren't the lights turned on? Vader, without hesitation, glided into the massive chamber and waited for her. As her eyes adjusted to the dim, she could make out the far end where extensive glass let in the evening lights of Galactic City. There was a seated figure, several scarlet Royal Guards, a few more standing silhouettes – Courtiers, Imperial Advisers and an Imperial Ruling Councilor, mostly in dark purple.

The very air felt different- charged as with static, thick and acidic. The background hum of the ancient former Jedi Temple was considerably louder in the throne room. Vader ascended a set of fourteen steps nearer to the group and knelt down. The courtier in the turbolift had left out that deference; it was a given. Eva followed Vader's example, but she did not lower her head. She was too distant to make eye contact. The seated figure was the Emperor. Only the lower third of his face was visible under the shadow of his dark hood.

One of the courtiers on the dais began to speak. "Our Emperor bids you welcome. Thank you for your service and the sacrifices you have made for the Empire. Today we reflect on the true meaning of courage, service and selflessness, and honor those persons who embodied them…" Off in the distance something loud clanked. The courier went on without missing a beat. The sound continued, leading Eva to believe she was hearing it louder than it was. Her temples ached. She felt like she was going to throw up.

When the courtier was silent, Palpatine slowly stood and nodded. He moved like the aged. He held his lower arms out in a stiff and odd manner. Vader rose to approach the dais elevated by four additional steps, and stopped far closer to the Palpatine than four arm's length. Another courtier stepped forward to hand the Emperor a sash with medallion. Vader again bowed so that it could be draped over his head.

Palpatine turned and nodded to her. Eva lowered her eyes and approached four arm's distance to sink to her knees. The Emperor had the second medallion in hand, but there was deafening silence and stillness. Finally, Palpatine inched forward to close the distance. Eva decided the courtier's dictation in the turbolift was just tooling with her. She lifted her eyes to look at Palpatine directly. He seemed to tilt his head back ever so slightly to allow her full view. His eyes caught the light in surreal manner, the gold color was luminous. She was startled that the scathed, fissured face belonged to a living being.

He stared back without admonishment. If any emotion, it was curiosity. When he lowered the sash, he momentarily rested a hand on her shoulder. A tremor shot through her entire body. _'He touched me!'_ And as he eased away, his face again shrouded in shadow, he spoke, just briefly. She could distinctly hear the way his voice sounded, but she could not take in the words. The resonance of his speech- it would never go away. She would carry it with her from then on. But what had he said ? The three words. _'Where is my brain?'_ she thought. It felt as though half of it was no longer there- as if it belonged to someone else. The words were hanging, like coming through haze. He didn't repeat them, but eventually they became clear, "Deceased Nothoiin nobleman."

* * *

"He was in my head! How damn invasive is that?" She was practically shouting at Vader in the turbolift, something she immediately regretted even if they were alone.

"You could tell? But surely you of all people are used to that. Interesting, considering your sensitivity to the force is nonexistent."

Her mind reeled. What did the Emperor know? About the Hoth mission's abrupt and early conclusion? Did he know it was all Vader's doing and her strings were pulled as surely she was a puppet at his disposal? About her slaying her objective in a fit of rage? Did Palpatine sense her repulsion to his face? Did he know about her destruction of imperial property with the bedsheets? No, he wouldn't care about that.

Her voice quietened as she was half speaking to herself "He was unnatural. How did get there? How did he hide it from the Naboo?"

But Vader didn't ponder the Emperor's past real question was, how to get her in Palpatine's mind?


	2. Chapter 2 New Game: The Official Visitor

THE EPIC CHAPTER 2 - New Game- The Official Visitor

_This galaxy isn't going to conquer itself-What a fine piece of propaganda they've crafted here_. Her first thought, the first time she tried on her Captain's Imperial uniform.

It was highly effective at impressing upon its wearer a sense of purpose, comradery and pride. But it was downright uncomfortable and ironically inclined the wearer to remain sedentary in a controlled climate. The uniforms were time consuming to fasten. They were tailored for snug fit, and with the belt tightly worn ( or they were prone to droop down under the weight of the buckle ) it made it cumbersome to raise your arms. _Rebel gear was by far effortless._

* * *

In the heat, Eva tugged at her collar then pushed back her blast helmet to wipe her brow. "A block ahead'," one of her security detail reported. She glanced up to the sky, blotted out by the monochromatic belly of the Star Destroyer. Claustrophobic steel much as far as the eye could see, the low slung sun was beginning to breech its bow. The _Lacerate_ was her command, and its shadow alone was intended to bring results. She hated the amount of energy it used to keep afloat deep within the gravitational pull and wanted it moved out of the atmosphere as soon as feasible. Her numbers that month would be dismal.

Then her gaze settled back down to the very dense, very lived in city. _I was to have the placid star systems. Now look at this_. She wasn't supposed to see much action, but someone along the way hadn't seen the memo and thought her cultural knowledge equated to cultural sensitivity; she would serve well stationed over Cenigal-1.

This wasn't her war on the Jaanue Naya. She wasn't the Imperial negotiator playing hard ball. She wasn't the Imperial general who strategized the ambush on a resistance leader's home, right next to an outdoor market. Her duty was to transport them there. But she was welcome to watch on—and guilty by association.

Eva passed through the market district, too idly for the efficient troops, while she studied the untypically homogenous inhabitants and pock marked architecture like a tourist. In her fleeting spare time she had already consumed volumes on the culture. She was both disgusted with the place and fascinated by it. Exotic and filthy.

The late afternoon winds picked up from grassy plains beyond the city's edge, and swirled dust throughout the unpaved alley. The breeze carried the scents of burning armaments (or buildings- it was all still vague to her) and incense being set out to mourn the dead.

* * *

Disgust quickly melded into heartbreaking dismay. She thought she was prepared, but it took all of her will to force her face into a blank. Torn market canopies. Dwellings reduced to rubble. The little limbs.

She would not bury her head. She would make herself witness until her sight blurred and she just stood numb for an unknown amount of time. A distracting swath of bright orange eventually drew her attention and she blinked back the water in her eyes. The Cenigal-1 Prefect and his entourage were examining a ruin of an Imperial A5-RX battle tank. Eva locked stares with the Prefect- well, much as she could with his metal covered face. A good two heads taller, he was draped top to toe in fabric with an unglazed slit in the mask for eyes. Though a native species, the atmosphere was no longer conducive for exposure.

Eva wasn't there to show the Jaanue Naya that Imperials weren't heartless, but she realized her presence might have some diplomatic consequence. Or maybe in his mind, it had gone the other way and he looked upon her visit as gloating. As he approached she made a quick bow from the waist as was customary to acknowledge his status, immediately setting her apart from all the other officers he had encountered.

And the anger in her rant reflected his own. She was hardly coherent. "Is this what you want? No, no ...it's not, is it!" She motioned around. "This isn't constructive. We wish for the same things- for our offspring to thrive, to have the care they need?"

"Self-determination," the Prefect's interpreter relayed. No device, a real being.

She walked a simi circle around the smoldering tank. "What a waste! The tax base that paid for this, are systems just like yours. In essence, you stole out of their pockets." She wasn't going to let on it was a remnant from the Republic. The good stuff wasn't sent to Cenigal-1. "And you…you paid for this conflict with the lives of your younglings."

"How much did your star destroyer cost? Currency that wouldn't need be spent if you weren't here." The Prefect's accusatory finger was practically touching her armored chest plate and the musky scent the Jaanue Naya immitted when they were agitated, wafted to her senses.

"One hundred and fifty million credits." She could not help but to look up with pride at its undercarriage, just out of range of ground cannon. "There are 37,000 employed aboard that ship, recipients of a higher wage than I see around me." She quieted down. "I don't really believe you understand what you would lose, and what there is to be gained. The Empire is inherently more efficient. Synonymous with greater prosperity." She motioned him aside and shut off her microphone piece. "You think, if you make it not worth their while, the Empire will go away? Perhaps. Or maybe they will make an example of you. And when it's done, they'll squeeze the extra expense to colonize, out of your system. Stop stubbornly holding out and get back to the negotiating table."

"What will they give us, and what will they take?"

"I don't know the specifics of the treaty they'd offer you." When Imperials moved in, capitulation was spelled out in infinite detail- the number of conscriptions required, the percentage stationed off world, manufacturing oversite, currency regulation, taxation, tariffs, representation, penalties and interest rates -on and on. Even if she had years of experience in her station, she would have only slightly more of an idea of that field of Imperial operations.

"It would be helpful to know where we'd stand to other systems, so we were not taken advantage of."

Eva blinked. The remark was an about face, and sign there could be real progress. But did he really think she'd show him the Empires hand? "I'll see what I can get. Maybe some of the contracts. Meet me at the Hanishk tea den, in a couple days, at opening time."

"No, someplace more public, at one of our cultural events. I'll have an invitation sent to your ship."

* * *

Eva knuckled up to the terminology and the complexity, after hours with no sleep, accessing a hundred confidential documents. Three quarters she set aside as the systems they were imposed upon were of dissimilar population, wealth or natural resources. She created spread sheets of the significant points, to which she cobbled together her own contract. She made sure to add a few enticements of particular appeal to the Jaanue Naya. She'd covertly let them have the contract, so when they returned to negotiate they'd pull the best offer they believed they could receive from the Imperials.

* * *

She had to admit, it was discrete in that they were so crammed on the benches, in almost the middle of the row, no one could see her pass along the data stick to the Prefect. Not even her security detail standing in the aisles, who were presently being heckled for blocking the view (among other reasons). The spectators made obscene gestures the stormtroopers didn't understand, as they were fresh off the _Lacerate_. The packed underground arena overwhelmingly smelled sickly sweet -an odor indicating the Jaanue Naya were something akin to 'thrilled.'

The Prefect sent his interpreter away, and spoke the best Basic his vocal cords could manage. "I have looked in at your background. Not standard very much. You are both green and highly honored." His tongue clicked. "What was the accommodation for, to be precise?"

"None of your damn business." Down below three more contenders entered the arena, astride two-legged beasts that where particularly adept at jumping. Their range was augmented with bionic armature. The idea was to smash the opponent.

It made her queasy imaging the motion the riders were experiencing. "What, is this a fight to the death?" A few of handlers shocked the riders from the open wire grid that formed the lid of the arena. It would be best-for her troops—not to linger. "This is barbaric. I'm gone."

"You are not as other Imperials."

She stood up silent with no comeback at hand. He'd meant it as a compliment, but she was insulted for the Imperials.

"Thank you for this," the Prefect nodded goodbye.

Eva hesitated with a tinge of guilt then added, "I wish you luck."

* * *

_Green._

_Did everyone have to know that?_

Distance helped keep up the 'charade.' She kept to herself-didn't often dine with her officers like her brief time as adjunct to Admiral Piett. And when it became overwhelming feeling responsible for all aboard, she remembered the _Lacerate_ was just one in nearly 25,000 -expendable to the Empire. What an odd thought to bring relief.

With experience, surely the workload would lighten and she wouldn't feel as insecure. The impression she should be a tactical genius was already being put to ease. Her posting was not the swashbuckling adventure it was perceived to be. What her overseers really appreciated was dependability, efficiency, an ability to articulate directives concisely, and timely completed paperwork ( all at which she excelled ). And compared to espionage, the setting was outright luxurious - climate control, decent food, spectacular vantage points…

"Circle around then move the ship into orbit." From the bridge's viewports, the city shrunk away swallowed by great plains, until the surface was lost to the clouds. An ocean of stars and three rings of Cenigal-1 settled into view. She couldn't believe it actually worked. Another planet subjugated by the Empire, without another shot fired.

* * *

Eva would have to bring her ship to him for a meeting. His time was too valuable. There were thousands of Captains, but only one 'Supreme Courtier and Advisor to the Emperor.' It could not be of coincidence, that this summons came soon after her contact with another Courtier. That one had only requested transport but made a point of hanging around the bridge, striking conversation whenever able.

As she had already logged three extra hyperspace jumps that month to give a Courtier a lift, Eva asked the hologram, "Perhaps I could just come by shuttle to meet with the Supreme Courier?" _Supreme Courtier and Advisor_, the aid to the Grand Vizier's Office rolled his eyes. "The meeting is to take place aboard your vessel."

Eva ended the transmission. Like Lord Vader, those at the very top seemed to never contemplate expenses.

She met the high-priority visitor in the docking bay. "Welcome to the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer _Lacerate_." Eva recalled with a smirk they had named another ship in her honor- the '_Slayer_' ('Infiltrator' was already taken). But that was a much larger ship elsewhere, which was not under her command. "There are over 37,000 crew on board: 9,235 officers and 27,850 enlisted personnel. A complement of 9,700 stormtroopers adds to a total of 46,785 crew and passengers…"

Instead of meeting in a conference room, Eva invited Supreme Courtier and Adviser Sim Aloo to dine with her, an offer he enthusiastically accepted. The conversation, the dinner (an entrée from his home world - she had done some research), and her selection of music were far more sophisticated than he anticipated. It was not all for show, as she was able to name the pieces playing.

Aloo who was tall, bone thin and elderly, was studying the state of her private quarters. Eva had politely tried to dissuade him, but he remained insistent on the setting. She hadn't occupied the suite long, so it was unaltered. Standard issue. Personal items were mostly put away. Three droids stood at attention to fill drinks and go out to fetch the next course. His master's massive Dreadnought, the _Eclipse_, was in full view out the windows as Eva had arranged to have her ship turned just so.

Aloo brought his attention back to her. Neatly plaited brown hair was tied in a long loop on either side of her attractive face, her efficient grey-green Captain's uniform incongruous with his home world inspired maroon and purple floor length robes. "You're wondering if our Emperor is on board? Of course. I am not far from him."

As Eva was not in a line of his direct command, it was not inappropriate to for her speak to him as an equal. But she was gracious yet guarded- she still didn't know why he was there. "Why did you schedule this meeting?"

"I'm not able to discuss the details, however part of the purpose is to review your background and experience," Aloo responded in his elite Eriaduan accent. He motioned to the droid that his plate could be removed. "Shall we begin?"

He started from memory, without so much as a datapad before him. "You're from Arda-2. You were away for your later education, but returned." His voice relaxed slightly. "I visited the system briefly a very long time ago." He recalled the dull grey weather, nothing so dramatic as an actual rain shower. Constant mist. Moss speckled rocks that collected water in ponds and no trees. Nearly every material was imported. The settlements were backwater. "Augmenting your…adequate…education, you are considerably self-taught, including High Galactic. Particularly useful on Coruscant.

"You took up work of somewhat above average means? Finding employment with financial aspects in a facility that mined and processed dedlanite, along with your cohort, Mag Doum. You gave high ranking Rebels a tour of the complex…_knowing_…they were arranging to illicitly siphon some of the material for the Alliance." He paused, "You don't seem to have a healthy respect for legalities?" He appeared to not actually expect an answer. "Your companion, Doum, sold you out. You weren't so able a judge of character there, were you?"

Flickers of recollection were inevitable. Eva remembered the rebels firing on Mag's small ship as he lifted off to get word to the Imperials. He just didn't have time to get her away too…

"You were put under arrest, but for your infraction you chose to cooperate with Imperials."

…staring at exquisite black boots on the crossed legs of the elder Admiral. He was kind, and allowed her stay on the bridge while Mag was put away in detention. Lord Vader was on his way. It was really the first time she had heard someone speak that name.

"You were intensively trained in espionage…combat. Word is, that Lord Darth Vader personally took part in some of your instruction."

Too much had been made of that- why a master would waste time on a novice? Eva had taken her hands off the table and held them in her lap. Her head was lowered in thought. Aloo leaned forward to snap her back to his attention. "…then you were sent to an Imperial hard labour camp, where you spent three standard months undercover as an inmate, until the prison was allowed to be compromised by Rebels."

…that horrid, sweltering jungle. Final death toll; 29 Imperials, 9 Rebels, 12 hapless prisoners.

"Later you took up your rebel connection, and worked intelligence under the supervision of Lord Vader while the Alliance had you stationed at an Orbi moon then Sriluur…"

She recalled that Sriluurian sunset, alone…squatting on a cliff overlooking the vast barren terrain. Her helmet in her hands, she was sick to her gut and fresh from her first grisly kill. There was no end, no resolution in sight. The mission had already gone on so much longer than originally promised. Vader's voice would sound, and direct her from inside her very head. He was literally wired to her eyes and ears with organic receptors and networked with stealth relays and power boosts- technology that was leaps ahead, and still hush hush. Vader knew she was ready to throw herself over the edge. But he saw the deep, craggy expanse though her own eyes, and said nothing.

"…And lastly, Echo Base, which then fell to us. At that point you were removed from reconnaissance and reassigned to command this ship. Quite an abrupt readjustment, I'm sure. Your performance thus far has been very slightly above average adjusted for experience, although not for the fast-tracking of your training. So we might rate your performance slightly better still?" He would let it go unmentioned, that she hadn't really been been tested. "Well…all in all, early deficiencies have been more than made up for. And of course, you possess one of our Emperor's highest honors. "Would there be anything in which you'd wish to elaborate?"

Eva thought for a moment. There seemed no benefit in explaining herself to this man.

Aloo continued, "You are by now aware of the irony, that if you simply refused to cooperate with the Imperials in the beginning, a three month sentence in hard labor was a probable outcome consistent with sentencing precedent?"

"Yes, but that was not what Lord Vader was 'offering' at the time." Luke Skywalker was one of the rebels who toured the factory on Arda-2.

"Do you hold resentment to the way you have been treated?"

Why was he outright asking that? What did he expect to hear? Eva weighed her words. "It has been a rewarding career."

Aloo smiled and requested the droid refill his glass with Sullustan wine. "Do you understand what my duties are, as a Courtier?"

"A personal and political adviser." Quoted directly from Imperial media. But she elaborated, "While you have restricted official authority, you actually have considerable influence and near total access to the Emperor. No one else understands the Emperor like you do. No one can question the Emperor like you. You direct the Greater and Lesser Courtiers, who then arrange for the Emperor's personal needs and comforts."

"I vet them, as well." He would allow that. Palpatine was correct, and she had surprised Aloo in her promise.

* * *

_A million stars reflected on the black still water below. She remembered skirting over them at astonishing speed, and yet he wished her to fly the craft lower. Each day Vader had pushed the training a little more. He sent her piloting through haunting beautiful systems as close to, and from any vantage point she wished. Inside the small modified TIE/br fighter, she had never felt more free. "Scant right," Vader guided from the copilot's seat directly across her. 'Turn ever so much- ten degrees,' she understood to be his meaning, though he had the directive coded down to a single word._

_Vader was not just training her. She was training him. His voice - her reaction. Closer and closer in in sync. The dance was perfecting each run, though she had no understanding of the future application. "Touch the water." She was hesitant to fly as low as he asked. She possessed a sense of self preservation and trepidation he could not coax her to let go. Vader took the controls and pushed the craft to the limits, to show her where the limits were. Diving down then abruptly_ s_traightening to skid the water with the small antenna on the wing. It promptly broke off. Then whooshing straight up skyward at the dark cliffs which formed the lake's edge. The little tie fighter arced through voluminous cumulonimbus clouds, luminous by the light of two crescent moons and sprinkled with silent electromagnetic sparks as the fighter soared though. He pressed on, until by morning light her fear had melded into to sheer exhilaration._


	3. Chapter 3 Orientation

3 The Epic: ORIENTATION

Whereas a lowered head was typically sufficient, a full bow was expected if it had been some time, roughly a fortnight. One was to remain on their knee until the Emperor nodded or asked them to rise. That was item one. There were about a thousand more.

* * *

Eva was kneeling, waiting for permission to stand again in this, her second presence with the Emperor. The throne room was still freezing and every other nuance felt the same. No detail had been lost from memory. Two Royal Guards remained poised at the far end turbolift, and three other Courtiers lingered near - one arriving with the Emperor, and the two that had escorted her and stood around chatting by the empty throne until their master arrived.

Eva's chest felt tightened, and she was nearly shivering in her Captain's uniform. _The Courtiers must have extra layers under those robes._

"These days are bittersweet as we will miss our retiring Petror. Eva, you may rise."

The three courtiers exchanged glances. The Emperor was setting a precedent calling her by first name. But otherwise he stuck to the script, "…your devotion in accepting this Greater Courtier's appointment, at great personal sacrifice to you, is prodigiously appreciated. We look forward to your loyal service, and a great…many…years together." He seemed to take particular satisfaction with the last part and leaned back on his throne. In a less formal, almost wistful tone he continued, "You were given that award at Lord Vader's request. Otherwise I would have never set eyes upon you." Off script again. "How Vader has indulged you." He shook his head ever so perceptibly. "And you wonder your significance to him. Have you been considering, which has more prestige, a Greater Courtier or a Queen of Naboo?"

If he was trying to unsettle her, he had succeeded spectacularly. He was reasoning that her arrival there wasn't random, and the 'queen' to which he was alluding was no other monarch than Padmė. The Emperor was silent, waiting for her answer.

"Well," Eva responded tentatively, "there are eight Greater Courtiers and one Queen,"

"The Queen serves the people of Naboo and the Courtiers serve me. One Emperor, or the combined population of Naboo?"

"Our Emperor is of greater consequence, of course."

* * *

The Courtiers didn't know what to make of it all; this young upstart who was turning the rules with her hand-picked appointment. _Why, the Emperor himself had come from a significant family._

At first, Eva resented being yanked from her command as Captain when she had only recently been assigned an actual ship - just a few maneuvers for all the training she had been put through. It was a power verses knowledge tradeoff- A clog in the wheel, or a handmaiden with intoxicating access? However, she quickly realized the Captain's posting would have ultimately become monotonous compared to the charged environment she now inhabited. New beings were constantly coming and going, Imperial and otherworldly; One hundred Imperial Advisors tasked with governance and administration (strategist, economist, magistrates, financial advisers, military advisers, ambassadors etc.), Fifteen Imperial Ruling Councilors, one personal advisor and righthand Grand Vizier, twenty five Lessor Courtiers, seven Greater Courtiers, one Supreme Courtier and Adviser (One Greater Courtier understudy). And all these bureaucrats were falling all over themselves with their thirst for influence, intrigue -the rivalry and squabbles. Sometimes it seemed just for show as the Emperor would seldom take advice.

But now she would long for her simple Captain's uniform and boots over the voluminous purple, maroon or blue robes, (each one unique in design) The top-heavy headdresses were prone to topple off, as 'she wasn't carrying herself properly.' Eva had taken to wearing the partial array of robes left by her predecessor, an act of austerity that inspired antagonization among her coworkers. Aloo had warned her that the other Courtiers already perceived her as being favored. For her inauspicious background, for her youth and attractiveness, she should make up for it by being extra amicable.

Aloo would shake his head and tell her, "You have the most bizarre collection of training of anyone I've ever met." (behind her back, the courtiers were referring to Eva as the 'hot-headed assassin.' The Emperor sometimes called her 'the accountant from Arda-2 who has done well for herself.,' which Aloo found odd, considering her name was a mere two syllables).

She was assigned lavish personal chambers aboard the Eclipse and at the Imperial Palace on Coruscant, and given an allowance to redecorate (or simply cache the funds away). And there would be changes of part of the time was spent on Coruscant, though she was told it had been greater in the past. The Emperor was putting less importance on worlds outside his military realm.

* * *

_Privy to all who came, restricted not to leave._

Eva stood on richly woven carpet wearing her floor length robes, gazing out the window at the spectacular vista of the never ending, never sleeping and always sparkling cityscape of Coruscant. In that moment of luxurious ease, her prior trials were diminished. Her scars receded. And Eva considered the millions upon millions of people, (those were simply the ones within sight), within the city planet she had scarcely yet ventured. She reminded herself how utterly unbelievable it was that she was there – right next to the one person in the entire galaxy that had risen to the very top. The dues she had paid, the sacrifices to her self-determination, were nothing in comparison.


	4. Chapter 4 Jungle Flashback

4 The Epic: Jungle Flashback

NOTE; THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS VIOLENCE.

_ She had only her fingers to comb out the tangles in her hair. Eva would lie awake in the dark, drenched in her own sweat, the lumps of a pair of work gloves under her back. She had to sleep on them so they would not be stolen. If there was a single thing pleasant about the jungle, it was the exotic night chorus floating past the canvas walls._

_ Shafts of orange light were beginning to ease over the tent. Cranking machinery and voices replaced night sounds. Eva took a shallow painful breath. She dropped a leg on the bare ground to balance herself and picked her stiff body off the cot, as did the group of nine females housed with her. Day forty seven in the Imperial hard labor camp._

_ Eva would stand too long in the shade. She gathered the felled branches too slow to their satisfaction, as she didn't want to be stung by the mungus that made their homes under the leaves. It wasn't certain death, but…_

_ On the other hand, a few days in a sick ward could actually be an improvement … A guard lowered his electrostaff and zapped her, to her fellow prisoner's amusement. And before her head cleared and the numbing pain subsided, the guard was poking Eva with beforementioned tool to get going. One closely watched inmate was allowed to handle a laser-saw to cut the large pushed over trees, while others gathered logs and tossed foliage into the collection bins. In exactly forty two days, that inmate would be having his way with the saw and the guards._

_ A stormtrooper had come to single out three human women to march off to the Lieutenant Colonel's private quarters. Eventually Tuggs appeared and paced slowly around them. When he came to Eva, she met his aloof gaze and considered what she could do with her new training if they were left alone. She was just the sort of desperate that odds didn't matter anymore. But again, if she took him, she probably wouldn't even be punished for it. Eva tried her best to suppress a deranged smile._

_ Tuggs asked a guard to take the two other women away. Only one stormtrooper remaining. The Lieutenant Colonel was still taking stock of her and seeming slightly less self-assured, when he crossed the room and opened an adjoining door. Motioning Eva to enter, he simply added, "Put on the scout trooper's helmet and uniform. Lord Vader wants to see you."_

* * *

_ Then it was Lord Vader who was taking stock of her, in the cool dry air of the Executer. Eva was filthy and thin. Her hands were still badly lacerated though she had possession of the work gloves full time. The Mandalorian she had shared them with every other day, had been mauled by a raspavoure when she went off to relive herself behind a palm. Eva begged off Vader's attempts to jump into refresher training. 'Just a day, so I can sleep- How could he possibly think, she hadn't the opportunity to practice her combat skills?.' _

_ But only a couple of standard days later, Eva's appearance had quickly improved. Vader realized he was going to have to cut the exercise short, and smuggle her back down to the detention center. Eva was desperate to know how much longer- when would the rebels be coming to free their brethren?_

_ "You need to appear as though you've been Lieutenant Colonel Tugg's plaything. Do you understand what I'm going to do to you?" Eva froze when it sunk in. Two blows to her face, a third was intended. An involuntary gasp escaped her swelling lips. Flushed, she had returned to her upright, proud stance- quiet, still and cringing. Vader was concerned her morale would plummet, when the main objective of the leave was to reinforce it. But there was something else, completely alien to his being, a hesitancy borne of compassion. In self-loathing and shock, he quickly drove home the third blow._

* * *

They told her over and over, nothing she heard or saw would be spoken of outside the circle of Greater Courtiers. They never mentioned the advice she felt most important; 'be careful what you think around the Emperor.'

Aloo was looking out the windows at the newly arrived Executor, slightly aggravated how closely Vader's ship had come out of hyperspace next to the Emperor's. This was a pissing contest that will never subside, he silently determined. He returned his attention to Eva and Marius seated across the conference table. "Our Emperor won't be sleeping." He was surprised at the slight hesitancy to tell Eva. He didn't mean the Emperor would be tossing and turning in his rest. He meant that the Emperor would not retire, even if it were for days, while Vader was near. Extra staff would need to be scheduled.

Eva looked down at her comlink. Vader was trying to reach her. _Let's move things along._ "You want me to give up my time off? Am I going to get it back later?" Eva was only a Greater Courtier understudy. Why were they asking this of her?

"I doubt it. Our Emperor's aunt is gravely ill. For two days, he will visit Naboo." Eva was to drop her Lesser Courtier duties of vetting the Emperor's outside visitors.

"I'm being fast tracked again?"

"You needn't worry, You will have much oversite."

* * *

Eva met Lord Vader at the docking bay and walked along side as he made his way to the Emperor's sector. He'd have to slow his gait, to make up for her small stride. From his transpirator, his breath flowed long and relaxed.

When she had first sent word of the Courtier nomination, Vader had only responded that he would contact her later. He was now explaining the rebuff. "If you felt I could have offered advice, I don't see that you had any choice in the appointment…Eva, you should now assume your communications, even verbal within your personal suites, to be compromised." He turned his head towards her, his mask as inscrutable as ever. "Has the Emperor treated you well?"

"He vacillates between cold formality to occasionally toying. He appears to enjoy knocking me off balance, seeing what clever repartee I can manage. It's not even fair. My hands are tied with protocol… He's savagely intelligent. But of course, you all are." She wondered again, how and why she got here. But now she could feel Vader beginning to distance himself. Must be the company she was keeping.

Somewhere along the way of the whole adventure, Vader's threatening her to do his bidding, had become her wanting to do his bidding. He had realized that intimate encouragement brought the best results, and in turn, he was somewhat receptive to her closeness. So many leaps of faith she had made for him, and every one had worked thus far…

_ "You want to do what?"_

_ "It's worked so far, on one other person. Look, this is a recording of the kind of images we can get." The medical technician had indicated a screen with blurred moving footage- the vantage point from someone's eye. The sound was recorded too. Eva could clearly hear the person speaking out loud, though it resonated in a way that reminded her of talking with hands over her ears._

_ "It's sending sound to the subject that's the hardest part. The receiver planted in the brain picks up the signals well, but the brain has trouble deciphering them. They aren't close enough to the kind of signals that come from the nerves in your ear. It's going to take practice."_

_ "Wouldn't the rebels be able to detect this whole system?"_

_ "The parts are nano-components, made of natural materials that sacredly show up on scanners. We're fine tuning the cloaking too…The scars would be under your hair line."_

_ And in the end, the reticence of going it alone, was greater than the fear of being cut into.__ There would be five others like her outfitted the same and put into play. But only Eva had brought him to Luke's doorstep._

* * *

_ And if the Emperor saw to it to suddenly reverse his approach as Vader had done, he might have Eva in the palm of his hand too.._.

"Do you believe there is more to this appointment … I mean, beyond appearances?" Eva deliberated.

Vader had his suspicions. Probably Palpatine was toying with him as well, by taking his subordinate for himself. "When is anything… what it seems?"

Eva badly wanted to know if in accepting the position, did Vader expect her to relay relevant information? But she was holding her silence, hoping that her allegiance to either the Emperor or Vader need never be chosen. She'd just have to deal with things on a case by case basis. She'd also have to consider that she could be used to relay misinformation. Eva lowered her voice to an inaudible whisper, knowing Vader's helmet contained amplification. "How will I reach you if it's important?"

And Vader paused and leaned over her, to whisper a way.


	5. Chapter 5 The Emperor Visits Relatives

5 The Epic: THE EMPEROR VISITS RELATIVES

_AUTHOR'S NOTE : TRoS spoilers in this chapter. Also, This would read more potently if the two characters on Naboo were Palpatine's siblings instead. However I will respect the storyline established by James Luceno in _Darth Plagueis,_ where Palpatine's siblings were deceased at this time frame._

* * *

But Palpatine and the entourage didn't actually stay on Naboo. His Star Dreadnought, the Eclipse, floated above the capital city Theed and transports were taken down for brief visits. Eva had never seen anything as remotely stunning as Naboo, for its architecture or natural beauty. Royal guards, retinue, shock troopers and miscellaneous officials convened upon a pleasant residence in the center of the city. This was a childhood home of the Emperor, it was explained. It was so very odd, to use the words 'child' and 'Emperor' in the same sentence.

Sentries were posted throughout the neighborhood. Streets were blocked. Air space was shut off to all but the Imperial craft darting noisily above. Inside the residence security did a walk through as Eva was tasked with sorting through the home's staff of droids, having them arrange the temperature, dim the lights, and close the heavy drapery. A group of onlookers was forming outside the low wall around the gardens.

Eva fell in love with the home instantly. What a charmed childhood it would have provided! Elegant and distinguished, yet possessing genuine warmth, it was ornate in a fashion to please, not impress. It did not seem like an overly wealthy person's home, but Eva was unaware of the costliness of central city real estate. It was so opposite the uninspired dwelling from her own upbringing.

The downstairs was becoming crowded to the point of absurdity, while the Emperor's relatives and old acquaintances were showing up. Half the imperials relocated outside, as the Emperor and more entourage were about to land. Eva was free to mix while they waited, and she studied the relatives with fascination. The other Courtiers surprised her by being kind enough to identify them. She hadn't yet realized, how much courtiers thrived on insight and gossip. Eva was fixated with the Emperor's uncle Evan, who was actually similar in age and looked much like Palpatine should, had he not been disfigured. He was a statesman and notable in his own right, though his sphere of influence did not reach beyond Naboo. This whole extended family, had been carrying on, living normal lives, without fanfare or security.

A patter of rain began at dusk but the number of onlookers outside did not thin, No one came inside from the garden. As the Emperor stepped through the doorway the group fell silent. Eva could still count on her hands the number of times she had been his presence. The effect was waning but she still felt the air constricted and was coming to realize she was simply holding her breath. As far as she could tell, the effect on those who had gathered to see him on this exceedingly rare public appearance, was profound. While they closed in (clearly less than four arm's distance), Palpatine made his way through to the stairs, quietly greeting some of them. He stopped longer before one slim young man- his son from a dissolved marriage long before. The tension was measurable. They hadn't spoken in fifteen years. "You have a daughter now? I wish her well. Did you bring her?" The young man slowly shook his head. More words were exchanged, but Palpatine had moved them beyond earshot.

Aloo called Eva aside and told her, "You'll be staying here. Keep us apprised, and help the family, as our Emperor's aunt does not always sleep through the night."

* * *

The relatives were more accommodating than Eva would have expected. The Emperor's cousin fed her with the family, and then took her upstairs and left her alone with her mother. The elderly woman in the bed truly did seem close to her last breath. In her waking moments she spoke. Eva wasn't sure she understood who she was.

"You came with Sheev?"

"Yes, I did. I hope you don't mind my being here."

"He's so able a Senator."

"Oh, he's much more than that now."

The woman seemed to shake her head in disgust, her thoughts pulled from the more palpable early years. "He murdered his parents."

The remark came from nowhere. She shouldn't have heard it and there was no undoing. Eva leaned down over the bed to glimpse the night sky out the window beyond, as if she could tell which light among the stars came from the Emperor's Dreadnought. Then almost menacingly she placed a single finger to her lips in warning. "They were in an accident."

The Emperor's aunt took hold of Eva's wrist closest. "You have a rotten soul." Eva pulled away, disturbed. Then it occurred to her, like Palpatine, this woman could possess a certain amount of clairvoyance. "You can tell, like Sheev can tell?"

"Not like him. No. But a little."

"Can you tell the future?"

"Only as it ties to the present."

"What do you mean?"

The old woman managed to turn on her side, facing away from her. "You want this house."

"No, I don't. I just like it. Look, I just got here."

"One day, it will be yours. It's ok. My daughter doesn't want it. It should be yours."

Eva leaned down and practically whispered to her. "What else can you tell me?"

She turned just her head back to face her. "No, you don't want to hear the bad. Self-fulfilling prophecies..."

After a moment's silence Eva asked, "Your brother Evan, is he like you?" But there was no answer.

* * *

The brother hadn't yet left and was still downstairs, sitting by the fireplace with glass in hand. He was alone as his wife was helping clean up.

"I apologize for my intrusion. It's not by my choice. May I?" Eva indicated the chair across from him.

He motioned her to be seated. "It's alright, I can imagine the complexity necessary for Sheev's arrangements. It was good of him to come see his aunt."

"Have you seen him often?"

Evan smirked, the weak chin with clef, the cheeks; it was a mannerism so much like the Emperor. "Little, but more than I care to. What is your position, exactly? And you can remove that ridiculous headdress, Eva. I won't tell."

She obliged and fussed a moment with her hair, but it was setting a bad precedent. "Do you know about the Greater and the Lesser Courtiers?"

"Yes, but go on. I want to hear it in your own words."

"I'm being groomed to be a Greater Courtier. A _very_ personal aid to the Emperor. The Lesser Courtiers are more ceremonial, and interface between the Emperor and the public. Well, such that the 'public' is allowed to intrude. A position of Greater Courtier is far more prestigious."

"Will he listen to you?"

Eva found herself enthralled with the man's face, his voice and its similarity to the Emperor. The feeling was somewhat unsettling. "I don't know, I'm not there yet. I can't imagine he would." Eva wasn't exactly sure where the line in this conversation should be.

Evan held his drink out to her, offering to share. Eva accepted easily. He continued, "And why you? Why did they pick you for the job?"

Here she needed to tread lightly. She rose to locate the decanter, and refilled his glass before returning it. "I'm 'infamous' of sorts. Previously, you know the courtiers have been drawn from the noble houses of the past- necessary to appease the royal families, and cement the prestige of the position. Palpatine…Sheev…is making a statement by now choosing from his 'own house.' As a decorated officer, I'm the closest the Imperials have." This was general knowledge among administers, but almost over the line.

"That's half an answer."

"Well…they have criteria: They don't want people with families. They seek intelligence, cultivation, tact. Humility, loyalty, acquiesce and obedience. Discretion." She smirked. "With some qualities, I fare weaker." Now to find out if it was worth it. "Favor for a favor?"

He nodded. "Fair enough."

"Did you know your nephew had changed? Could you tell when it happened?"

He passed her the glass. "You mean when he picked up on that murky alchemy cult he subscribes to? He was up and gone for one. A long period before he came back and entered politics. But no, you will never know what's going on in his mind. That weakness the rest of us possess, to confide, to have at least one person near—it was always beyond him. And he's a master of deceptive expression. If you read anything, it's because he wants you to. Favor for a favor. Are you in over your head?"

"Absolutely."

She returned the glass for him to continue. "And in particular, don't be gullible to Sheev's rare acts of kindness. 'Generosity' would be obvious. Instead, he's thoughtful with uncanny insight that blindsides you. His temper…it's real enough…but again, he's only revealing for effect. He is so driven, so effective, that it will astonish you his maliciousness is not only for gain. For him it's pleasure." He pressed. "What does 'very personal aid' mean, exactly?"

She rose to gently refill the glass in his hand., and bowed her head. "a glorified server, for one…"

* * *

When the wife returned a third time, Evan readied himself to leave.

"Will I see you again tomorrow?" Eva inquired.

"No, unfortunately I have to speak before committee, but will you stay in touch?"

* * *

"He's back." The cousin announced and held out a cup of something warm to wake her. Eva sat up with a start, quickly replaced her headdress and grabbed her comlink. She had been awake all evening in the room with the aunt, offering her conversation and whatever human touches she could manage aside the medical droid. When she seemed most willing, Eva pressed for more details. As the others in the house awoke, Eva had made her way downstairs to rest in a chair.

That morning, the Emperor's visit upstairs was even more brief. Eva could hear him and Aloo returning down the staircase as she was still held up in the kitchen. The niece was trying to give her a jar of something she made. Then Eva was hurrying out of the house into the crisp morning air, purple robes flapping, one hand on her headdress. She stopped to look back at the gardens in full bloom. The fountain could be heard above the Imperial craft passing above. The early light filtered through the leaves and warmly lit the façade in patches. In a fleeting sense of peace, she decided it was her most favorite place in the entire universe.

* * *

Not many meters away was a final stop- A token tribute for the holocameras. Palpatine had reluctantly agreed with Sate Pestage's suggestion to make a pilgrimage to the mausoleum. But now inside, he was finding amusement with the two women before him.

Eva was practically wide-eyed._ It's really her. Padmé Amidala_.

Palpatine's thoughts had been of a different nature; _The folly of the Naboo, to grant a pubescent girl such influence. I wonder how many night's sleep you lost, recalling your vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum pushing me to power._

He had sensed a slight repulsion from her, even when he was a youthful Senator. Padmé Amidala could do little to recoil now. Lord Vader so acutely desired that some part of her still existed, but Palpatine sensed nothing as he leaned up against the sarcophagus. He smiled at Eva. _How does it make you feel, unable to compete with a rotting corpse?_

His cane clacked the cold stone floor. He was waiting for Eva to continue.

"...to a certain extent, Evan resents that you have not offered a place for him in your government. He's jealous. Of your success, the fanfare. He is not always discrete, when he speaks of you."

"Aren't we fortunate, you can hold your alcohol," he spat. Silence creeped in but he made no move to leave. He was waiting. After a time he said, "Come over here, Cescily." Eva stiffened at the sound of her birth name. She approached him at the head of the sarcophagus, stopping at four arm's length. Her head was respectfully tilted downward but her eyes remained steady within his despite the expression of malevolent mischievousness. That she could hold his gaze was a rare quality he appreciated. This was not the repugnance Padmé felt. This had become altogether something else, a morbid fascination perhaps. But Eva's knees were weakening and her stomach began to knot. He had turned so that he faced her. "Closer." Eva reluctantly obliged. He took the bundle of flowers she had been assigned to carry and discarded them on the lid. Then he extended the long fingers of his hand, inviting her to take it within her own.

Eva remained motionless. "I heard a rumor. About your parents."

* * *

_He knows. He knows everything. It's not even necessary for him to touch me. He just wants me to believe I can keep some things hidden._

"No," she whispered to Aloo when she walked out, the roped off crowd far behind him. "He's not angry with me. It has something to do with his granddaughter not being located."

* * *

The Emperor's sector aboard the Eclipse would feel even more sterile and unwelcoming after her return from Naboo. "I will never have to visit that perdition again," she overhead Palpatine tell Aloo. And then he stopped in place, and thought about what he had just said. The truth to it was practically ringing in his ears.


	6. Chapter 6 Greater Courtier Marius

6 the epic: Greater Courtier Marius

When Eva had arrived, she already knew about Marius, a prince in his own world and already well-known beyond his Greater Courtier posting. She was determined to not be predictably awestruck by his suave good looks and charismatic personality. But he turned out to be disarmingly warm, clever and interesting. He was a refreshing departure from the other lot of stodgy courtiers and Eva might have thought herself equal relief to Marius, except that he had a whole slew of outside acquaintances. By appearances, he was incredibly inappropriate for his posting but Eva had seen how he could make himself invisible. No one turned up without being extremely well vetted.

The brilliant structures of Coruscant's Federal district lay towering beyond the walls of the former Jedi temple turned Imperial Palace. Eva stood four steps from the base of a magnificent staircase, with Marius at the foot.

"It would be wise, if you readily acknowledge their decades long ties to the Emperor. "he added referring to the Grand Vizier, the Imperial ruling council, Aloo and his subordinate overseer with the Lesser Courtiers. Marius glanced in the direction that had caught her interest then he approached and said, "You can go out there, but they don't want you to want to. But at the same time, they don't expect you to not want to, when you don't know what it is."

Later with more insight (and Marius would much help with her acquisition of insight), she would understand his meaning as, 'Aloo and the rest know you're from the backwater and would love to indulge in this planet's fine offerings, but the more you go out there, the more security expense will be undertaken (which is affordable, but don't make a glutton out of yourself) and the more likely you will divulge those precious Imperial secrets. And you won't like it out there, as you will be hounded. Or at least if we appointed you, you're the kind of person who shuns attention.'

Eva laughed at Marius as he handed her a blossom poached from the Emperor's garden many floors above. The first time she had been shown the garden, just off the throne room, Eva had also pinched a bloom much to Aloo's dismay. He then informed her that the Emperor himself had designed that garden, and to please take flowers from elsewhere. Eva had been dumbstruck at the idea of the Emperor's interest in gardening- He supervised the design of Lord Vader's armor _and_ the garden? _My my, a man of many talents._

"It's a just a city," Eva chided.

"No, it's _the_ city. Marius countered. "Next day we're both off, I'll take you out on the town. Nothing but the very best."

It was the long history of Coruscant that most interested Eva, but she'd happily go along and experience what life long privilege had to offer. She had been out on a few errands for herself, and a museum, all with six guards in tow (a seemingly small number to overpower for the properly motivated, but the strategy was that four troopers fend off an attack long enough for two to execute their charge). Eva did not care to be stared at, as Marius's acquaintances would be bound not to do.

And when that day arrived Eva showed up at Marius's private apartment richly dressed in civilian clothing, but with a veil.

"What exactly is that for?"

Eva seated herself on one of his high design chairs. "I don't want my likeness available. 'Eva' is not my birth name. The Imperials assigned it for their record keeping. To disassociate my identity, as they do all operatives. My family… they don't know what I've done. They have no connection, no threat to themselves. They only know I'm still alive." She had looked into the official Imperial tally of the deceased at Echo base. They had her birth name listed.

"What is your real name, Eva?"

But she would not answer. Marius felt a tinge of embarrassment that he had gone into much detail offering procedure for hosting her guests on the premises. He would learn no one would visit Eva. She was the antithesis of himself, disconnected from her world and she was very much alone.


	7. Chapter 7 Flashback: The Start of It All

Chapter 7 The Start of It All

The Emperor had begun to call her by her given name, 'Cescily', though only when they were unaccompanied. She did not know what to make of it- a feigned familiarity with her previous life? Was it a reminder he knew more about her than the official records - the records Aloo was reciting when they first met?

Could she in turn, call the Emperor 'Sheev?' She didn't think he'd appreciate the humor.

* * *

_The first steps she placed aboard Imperial quadanium steel. __ The beginning of everything. Cescily stared at exquisite black boots worn by the Rear Admiral. Like all within sight, they were superbly constructed, imposing and darkly efficient. As if simply being the outlier in their world wasn't disturbing enough, she had never seen or experienced anything remotely close to the Star Destroyer's bridge- polished, spotless pewter and black. The fully staffed crew pits managed operation of the ship with satisfied confidence. The hollow, reverberating footsteps were tempered by the ambient hum of the craft itself. Beyond the bank of windows curved around the bridge, the view from the star destroyer's tower overlooked the vast field of the main hull beyond. Further distant, tie fighters and troop transports darted to and from the looming jewel of the planet above- her planet - now in the middle of an unwelcomed Imperial occupation. Cescily gazed transfixed, as two additional star destroyers approached from the night side of the planet. A city's worth of small lights glowed before the tips of their bows pieced the light, which then cascaded across their massive pale grey bodies and swept up to reveal their imposing towers. The enormity of destroyers was breathtaking. She could barely fathom the thousands that must have inhabited them. No wonder Mag Doum had been in awe and admiration, an Imperial sympathizer. Not two days earlier, none of this was conceivable. The game had yet to begin…_

_ It had started inauspiciously enough, three single occupant rebel craft had entered Arda-2 airspace, and now the scale of this? _

_ Admiral Yeager was seated with legs crossed near her in a side bay, presumably his personal station on the bridge. He was oblivious to the brilliant display of Imperial might going on out the windows at his back. Cescily could not decipher the indicators of rank on his impeccable grey-green uniform. Judging from his late middle age, he could have been part of the Imperial Navy a very long while._

_ "How did the 'interrogation' go with Navy Intelligence?" he asked. "Trello is vying to be the worst bastard since our late Grand Moff Tarkin."_

* * *

_ "What do you know of Doum's activities this morning?"_

_"Nothing, until I heard he was being pursued."_

_ "Why were you at his landing strip?..."_

_ If Cescily had the opportunity to meet the recently deceased Tarkin, she would have considered the likening an extreme exaggeration of Trello. But Trello had to proceed lightly, with no understanding if she were friend or foe. The conversation had gone slow. Cescily would think before she spoke. A distracting black ball of a droid hung in the air._

_ "Do you realize the seriousness of your attendance of that meeting on Arda-2 and your failure to report it?" asked Trello, with his black uniform and painfully erect spine._

_ Cescily spoke under her breath. "Your authority over the system is questionable. I didn't personally extend help to the rebels."_

_ "You didn't get much of a chance, did you? In addition to Skywalker and the other two rebels, there were a large number of local individuals at the meeting, were there not?"_

_ Again they had singled out Luke. "Yes." It was only her, Trello, and the humming droid in a windowless room. She had not yet been to the bridge. She wasn't exactly sure where she was, having debarked from the windowless cargo hold of a shuttle. She had gathered that Mag Doum was near, but she hadn't been allowed to see him._

_ "How many?" Trello sucked the air through his teeth._

_ "Roughly 40 or so."_

_ "Tell me who they were."_

_ Cescily hesitated.. "I didn't know most of them."_

_ "Then you knew some?" he barely restrained a scoff of derision. "Who were they?"_

_"You have Doum for that."_

_"I want you to tell me." He stood over her, and when she no offered more he stuck her. As the sting to the side of her head and ear ebbed, she spoke with a tone no more acquiescent. "I have not, nor was I in the power to do anything for the rebels. What are you going to do, punish the entire planet?"_

_Just a standard month before, it would have been quite simple to do just that. "Perhaps we'll make an example of you. Besides, if the traitors of Arda-2 can afford to 'give away' their supply of __dedlanite, the Empire will be more than happy to have it." _

* * *

_ Rear Admiral Yeager had thought to have a meal brought to her on the bridge, but it sat mostly untouched on the console behind her. He noted her vivid white gown with gold belt, wondering if they typically overdressed on Arda-2- much more cosmopolitan than he expected. The wedge neckline and fitted sleeves hugged her well proportioned figure. If not for their interception, wouldn't she have spent the day adding numbers at a mining facility? Maybe there was more to the wide eyed girl caught in the wrong place at the wrong time._

_ Cescily had pulled on her best the previous two days. They had been more eventful than her entire life before. She regarded Yeager dubiously, "Will you be sending me back over to Arda-2 soon?"_

_ "I doubt it."_

_ "Well…?"_

_ "Lord Vader has taken an interest in all this, Perhaps you could tell me why? His ship is due any time and you'll probably be transferred there with your friend. Along with those other denizens of your fine capital city of Bestlestraume we've collected."_

_ "Who is Lord Vader?"_

_ The lighting changed. The bridge had darkened as shadow swept over the hull beyond. Further aft, the shadow also fully engulfed the two other star destroyers. Cescily stood and walked to the window. Something incomprehensibly large had blocked the light from above and behind. And as she pressed her cheek to the cold glass to look upward, the darkened underbelly of the Executor eased into view._

* * *

_ Trello had come to the bridge to collect her, irate she wasn't in handcuffs. He and four stormtroopers were now behind her back, roughly marching her along the corridors of the Executor to be personally delivered to Lord Vader. Vader had already taken in Trello's reports and held no interest in Doum._

_ "If you don't fear death, you'll have no concern with Lord Vader," he sputtered off smugly. Perhaps Trello thought the offhand threatening remark would instill compliance. More likely, he had perceived she was too ignorant to be fittingly fearful. She stared back at him deeply disturbed, and the Cescily that entered the room alone with Lord Vader was not the flippant young woman who Trello had interrogated. There was more to this than her infraction. and she didn't have a handle on it. And in that instant which she passed through the doorway, she succumbed to the gravity and defeat. They had her life in their palms, and any breath thereafter was a gift. 'I'm well on my way, as collateral damage.' At the sight of him, Cescily came to an abrupt stop and the door slid shut just behind._

_ She took in the oversized frame, the odd amour and draping fabric that matched no other's uniform- the electronics that glowed from his chest and belt. The black metal which encased him spotlessly gleamed, very much consistent with his surroundings. She wondered what happened to the presence that he needed a respirator. He regarded her a moment, then approached. His deep voice resonated richly though mechanical, so clearly sealed from the outer world. "Tell me about Skywalker."_

* * *

_Vader's line of questioning took a different turn. He did not concentrate on the citizens of Arda-2. Rather, he wanted her to recite every verbal exchange with Luke. What was Skywalker's impression of her? Why would he converse with the companion of an Imperial sympathizer? She explained that Doum's allegiances weren't clear._

_ "…And did you relay what you learned from the rebels during the tour of the mining facility, to Doum?"_

_ "Of course, it was Doum who was behind my being selected to host the rebels."_

_ It wasn't long before Vader understood that none of the rebels, and none of the inhabitants of Arda-2 knew she was intimately affiliated with the non-human Doum. Mag Doum's status as an informant was well wrecked by his ineptitude and greed for recognition, but his little side act was an opportunity unto itself. _

_He made the sight movement with his gloved hand, and her handcuffs fell to the floor with a clank. Cescily stared at them, perplexed, but resisted picking them up to inspect how Vader managed the trick._

_ "I'm going to propose something similar, albeit on a larger scale."_

_ Just the day before, he had taken possession of the Executor. Now he had taken possession of her. _

* * *

While she waited, the head of the kitchen would offer her a drink and divulge a preparation technique or two. He had no expectation she'd ever have use for them, but instead hoped for greater appreciation. Roughly thirty trays with warmers were set out. Eva randomly chose two, and placed them on a hover cart. The remaining would then be released to the highest ranking echelon in the Imperial Palace, who preferred to dine in.

At the front of the Emperor's private suite two Royal Guards stood silently, indicating Palpatine was inside. Eva called on her comlink and waited for him to open the entrance. There were no controls on the outside. If the Emperor was not present, there was no getting in there. If he left something behind, there was no sending anyone back alone to fetch it. House keeping droids were sometimes found waiting by the entrance to be let back in. Palpatine, of course, could activate the interior controls from beyond the door.

It was an inauspicious moment, but it was really the first time she was truly left alone to pursue what she would be doing every year thereafter, for her foreseeable future.

The chilled air enfolded her entrance, and the hover cart followed. The suite was expansive with ornate walls and cavernous arched ceilings. But it was sparsely furnished. Carved out of a thousand year old meditation chapel, there were no windows, no superfluous objects, save a few artworks including the bronze statues of the four Sages of Dwartii, relocated from his Chancellor's office. It was a misnomer that Palpatine occupied a glass tower of the ancient temple.

He was seated in a dim alcove made into his office, and looked up long enough to ask her to put on some opera. He only mentioned a style not a piece, and Eva was silently grateful she had the wherewithal to understand his meaning.

She looked over the spaces within immediate view for anything out of order, then stood quietly until Palpatine was ready to move along to the dining hall. From there, he randomly chose one of the two dinners. It was her duty to dine on the other, in front of him, though typically at the far end of a dramatically long table where she would not interfere with his reading of various reports on a datapad. But that evening he asked her to be seated closer. Eva poured two glasses of wine, and allowed him to choose his. She would be obliged to drink part of the other, but was prohibited from drinking it all. Despite the use of food scanners, the ceremonial habit remained observed.

"Have you yet seen a performance at The Galaxies Opera House?"

"No, your Highness."

"You should make a point of going." For several minutes, Palpatine ate in silence while listening to the music, then he focused his attention back on the datapad. "Tell the Grand Vizier to have a caretaker sent to my son's home, until he returns. And let him know to go forward with the statement, the one in response to the messages of concern sent by the Imperial Perfects."

Eva nodded. Aloo had told the Greater Courtiers that he believed the Emperor's son and his family had gone into hiding.

They were interrupted with an incoming hologram from the Advanced Weapons Research Agency, no private time was sacred- - Revised plans for the second Death Star were ready for review and they were being forwarded. There were several issues to go over afterward, Moff Tiaan Jerjerrod added, then three sections were shown in hovering, 3-d detail as the officer's voice continued to narrate.

Watching Eva, with her face lit in the blue glow of a shaft's hologram, Palpatine felt the first hint of what would become a reoccurring premonition. Eva had some relevant connection to that star base he could not comprehend. "Go back," he asked Jerjerrod, but when the shaft reappeared, the impression was gone.


	8. Chapter 8 Sriluurian SandStorm flashback

Chapter 8 : The Epic: Sriluurian Sand Storm flashback

_ It took a month or more of practice after the 'device' was surgically installed, for Eva to begin to understand Vader's (or anyone's) words. As Jedi voices could reach one another across the stars, Vader possessed scant appreciation for the crude, mechanical version necessary for the untuned. But of course Eva knew next to nothing about Jedi ability in her early tenure with the Empire. And that she'd experienced firsthand from Vader's proximity she'd incorrectly attribute. Although by then, she was beginning to hear stories of an inhuman capacity… _

_ But to its fabricators and operators, the devices were astonishing. From somewhere aboard the Executor in a sector with exceptional security, a small intelligence staff tracked their reconnaissance operatives, Eva and five others, at all hours. They saw what she could, and would hear if she spoke aloud. Eva could tell when the system was live, though actually it was rarely in use, and her detection was flaw they were working to eliminate. Eva also found it surprising that if she wanted to shut her audience off, she need simply start undressing…_

* * *

_ On her end, the set up was not without challenging maintenance. Once Eva had been 'freed' from the hard labor camp and settled in with the Rebel Alliance, a network of operatives ran components to her vicinity and established relays to boost the weak, cloaked signals. Soon after Eva reached the isolated main rebel base of Hoth, the system would run down to critical reserves, and a way to smuggle in support could not be worked out. _

_ But earlier on the inhabited desert planet of Sriluur, where the Alliance had stationed Eva for months, the set up was in top form. There was not much for Eva to do at the minor outpost dusted in red soil-a small collection of mud brick structures and worn evaporators- but bide her time for a more significant assignment. She was supposed to be the long game. The objective of the rebel base was to defend a small research facility, and most days on Srilluur were sleepy. This was not one of them._

_ Eva hoped the procurement officer could not detect the urgency in her voice. She was hurriedly weaving a tale of woe about equipment she'd left in the canyons, why she needed a speeder bike when it wasn't her turn to run security checkpoints. Two voices were directing Eva at the same time, the officer's before her, and someone aboard the Executor. Then it was Lord Vader's voice who intruded. And what he told her made Eva's blood chill under the high noon sun. What kind of path of no return was Vader attempting to put her out on? The end of this poor woman before her, and her own cover blown? Eva would never disobey an order of Lord Vader's, but they were both beginning to learn she could be better at reading people. Eva's story worked and the speeder was hers._

_ She set off across the desiccated plains in hot pursuit for a man she didn't know, and had no idea what he'd done, but something had gone wrong somewhere and he needed to be intercepted and taken down, preferably alive, before he left Sriluur._

_ Sweat was running down her temples from under the helmet, and she swiped at the dust on her goggles with her arm. She was not fast enough for Vader's liking. Intelligence aboard the Executor could determine the gap between was widening, as they watched from satellites. Eva would need to cut him off by detouring through the most precarious of terrain- faster and yet faster still. And for the first time all the practice was put to use. The dance was working- Vader's voice, her reaction. She could in effect, anticipate unseen topography before her. She could maneuver the speeder with Vader's remarkable precision while she was spurred on to a skill far beyond her possession. Through hard turns, she dodged and wove round the rock formations and plunged deep into ravines. For a moment, she again tasted the exhilarating freedom she had experienced in the practice tie fighter. To Vader, it was reminiscent of the pod races he took on as a child- ages away and miles distant of the chasms Eva speed through- the unexpected irregularity to relive those past moments…_

_ Eva was now close now enough to see her quarry, a just over a thousand meters ahead. He was heading north in an enclosed speeder, skirting along the edge where the rockery formations gave way to the plain. At the moment he had no cover and hers was thinning. She continued to maneuver the random outcroppings with one hand while untethering her blaster. And from worlds away, Vader adjusted her aim._

_ To Eva's disbelief she hit his speeder. He lost control and tumbled dramatically. But in the moments she continued at full speed towards him, he pulled free of the wreckage and shot back at her. She instinctually jerked away. A fin of her speeder bike hit hard and she nearly lost control. Her confidence drained away and she wanted to stall. No sooner had she skirted towards better cover, than she noticed the sand smoothed out under her where it ran down the center of a conveniently unobstructed gully. 'Stay off the paths! No no nononono! She braked, but it happened so fast she didn't feel the pain to her midriff until she was flat on her back._

_ She gasped as her lungs pushed all the air out of her chest, leaving her breathless. Tilting her head back, she caught the glint of a partially disguised wire strung across the path._ _If not for her body armor, she likely would have been sliced in two. In shock and pain, all she could do was lay there and look skyward with tears._

Somewhere along the way of the whole adventure, Vader's threatening her to do his bidding, had become her wanting to do his bidding.

_ Then she forced herself to roll over and crawl to cover. Her leg was bleeding and stung horribly, but the injury wasn't life threatening. A stolen glance northward and she saw her target pulling his valuables from the speeder while holding the blaster aimed in her direction. He began heading on foot in a line away from her, backing into the rock formations. She could trail him, but she stood no chance to catch up. Another shot streaked past her head and she rolled back around the rock she hugged with her back._

_ Her legs gave way to a squat and she let out a quite scream of frustration. Then she took a heavy slow breath and raised her communicator. A distress signal on an open line was no long shot. There was better than a 75% chance the signal would be picked up by the wrong kind, and most likely the kind that set wire traps._

_ Eva limped away from the origin of the signal, back to the her damaged speeder bike. She gently pushed it further away, down a ravine and gathered some of the sparse scrub to try to cover it. She shut down her equipment and hurried back in the objective's direction. Anyone could pick up her life reading as well, but with no electronic signals accompanying, she should be dismissed._

_Overhead the sky was turning from gold to the pink and bruised purple of late afternoon. The shadows lengthened and the winds began to stir. Both of them picked their way along though scattered rocks at the plains edge, while keeping out of one another's sight. Dust began to obscuring her view. She continued north while the hours passed, exhausted, in the rawest of environments, while Intelligence aboard the Executor followed on their screens- isolated overseers with their view down from the skies._

_ The gap was widening once more. Eva's leg slowed her down, though she was pushing her limits. Vader remarked on the sand storm. Intelligence informed Eva that eight beings with transport were approaching the target from the east. Vader disclosed that he came from a place much like Srillurur. Eva presumed he was elsewhere aboard the Executor. The eight were clearly headed in the direction of the target. Vader described his inhospitable long ago home, the wasteland and the savages that had taken his mother. It would be merciful for the objective if it were a Weequay clan approaching, Eva thought. There was a skirmish, but the eight beings appeared to take the objective alive, with a probable loss to one of their own. Imperial Intelligence could track where he'd be taken and now had time to send troops to collect him at their will. "What happened to your mother?" Eva asked Vader._

_ "She died."_

* * *

_ With instruction relayed to her from the Executor, Eva managed to get her speeder running well enough to make her way over to the already pilfered wreckage for inspection, then return to base. She arrived well after dark. Eva would live another day to pursue her operation undetected. She would sleep in her own bed as though nothing had happened._

* * *

_ Vader would tell her enough that she wondered if her days were numbered... In the evenings sometimes, when the rebel garrison was turning in for the night, Eva would pick through a corroded pile of broken equipment and select something to fix. She'd sit down alone under a single lamp and work with it under a magnifying lens. Her steady, thin fingers were especially well suited to precise tasks. The tasks Vader's gloved hands could no longer manage. He would talk her though each step of the repair, be it a blaster for her own use, a simple communicator, a regulator for a droid, or a code breaker. Only she would know he'd occasionally turn his back on the entire galaxy for a stolen hour of simple, cathartic release. If he was torn that the restored parts would someday be used to save rebel lives, to possibly extinguish his own troops, he never spoke as much. But now and again he might reveal to her something of his remarkable past… _


	9. Chapter 9 Palpatine's Dull Day

9 The Epic: PALPATINE'S DULL DAY

Marius found Eva where she said she'd be; target practice at the range in the bowels of the Dreadnought _Eclipse_. "So this is your idea of a night out?"

Eva held out her blaster for him to try.

"With a security detail following you anytime you're off base, do you think you need to keep up those skills?"

"You never know." She quipped while turning away to finish the round. She wasn't forced to log hours as a marksman or in flight simulators as required under Vader's authority. But there seemed something final to abandon the skills he deemed important. Her access to the facilities had never been revoked. "I've found it best to consider all my circumstances tenuous."

* * *

Marius walked her back to her quarters. _No changes still_, he noted. The interior design felt 'otherworldly' just as it did in the time of its previous occupant, Petror. All the Greater Courtiers possessed lavish quarters, although the others were considerably more consistent in style with the rest of the ship. The craftsmen needed to complete the stylized built-ins of Petror's quarters would not have been allowed to board the Eclipse (it wasn't even common knowledge it was the Emperor's flagship), so Petror circumvented the obstacle by sending standard destroyer wall panels to his home planet to be veneered and embellished. They were then easily installed by the Eclipse's construction crews. The two story space was a perfect replication of a fine, wood paneled, over furnished reception room on Petror's home world Orocco.

Over dinner, Marius offered insight that extended back before his own tenure. 'Misunderstood genius,' he said of the Emperor. He explained when Palpatine was Chancellor and at the beginning of the Galactic Empire, he was so overworked there was little time for himself. With experience he understood how he could step back and let those he appointed manage responsibilities, while no lessening the grips on their throats. As of late, he felt no pressure to maintain an actual presence to any ceremonial task. And that, Maruis believed, had hurt the public's perception of him.

Palpatine preferred the presence of military personnel over the civilians and military personnel less so than before. Civilian audiences had decreased from five a day granted, to one a week (and as Eva knew firsthand as a Lesser Courtier, the selection of that one seemed not of critical interest to Palpatine). Years before, he had dined with all the Greater and Lesser Courtiers once a month. Now it was annually. He was increasingly self-isolated and even away unattended. The number of Courtiers had not decreased since their inception, but his use of them had. Marius lastly added, "You seem to be an exception. My sympathies." And he smiled.

* * *

Palpatine hated these days, when his desires were out of line with what was best for him. He had heard the argument years before and was cursing himself for not settling it then.

In the throne room, a group of 'Species Rights Activists' had the floor. "…It's easily argued that the typical Neimoidian practice of forcing their infantile grubs, their larva, to compete with each other over an unnaturally limited food supply, is a form of child abuse. The exception for its allowance should be discontinued."

The two Neimoidian ambassadors present had already argued their side- of how their race came to have the strength that it possessed, the disease resistance, because of generations upon generations weeding out the weak. They conferred with one another in hushed Pak Pak as the Species Rights representative continued, "…Also underreported are other instances of outright murder…" he paused for effect. "Such as Neimoidian overseers assigning identical tasks to two teams of worker drones, with the incentive that the successful team can consumes the other." He looked to the Neimoidians with veiled repulsion and their musical cadence of guttural croaks subsided.

Eva was absorbed by the Neimoidians. She hadn't seen any in person before her appointment—Humanoid forms, orange eyes with zagged horizontal pupils, green-grey faces with no nose. Their obsession with status was evident in the ambassador's complexly textured robes, and their cloaks, hats and collars all had particular symbolic meanings. The species' claim to infamy was the running of the Trade Federation and their hand in the start of the Clone Wars.

The activist went on, "This 'look the other way' attitude is inconsistent with prevailing laws. Now, you're an able statesman," he motioned to the Neimoidian who was the senior ambassador. "You've successfully defended your case before supreme jurisdiction for a…fifth time? How would feel if you were consumed by your cohort here, Ambassador Keyale, because he'd been just that more efficient than you?"

The senior Neimoidian's face exhibited no shortage of despair. He responded in accented Basic, "For the greater good," and his skin slightly pinkened.

It was not the answer the activist anticipated. Silence set in as attention focused more or less back upon the Emperor. He was still listening but had turned his throne at an angle to the petitioners - a sign he didn't wish to be there. Eva imagined he didn't care a flit about baby grubs. At stake was the right of self-governance – the powers still held by the local Governors.

The flushing skin intensified, and the ambassador didn't look very well at all. Eva understood it to be a Neimoidian indication of nausea, and considered approaching him to whisper assurance. _Don't worry- the Emperor has that effect on everyone_. A couple of steps in his direction, and the Emperor spoke her name. She was supposed to be invisible, and yet all eyes were on her. Palpatine was motioning her over.

She approached to the far side, near the oversized windows, so her face was would be obscured as she leaned over the throne. Long before, she learned to grasp the fabric that draped down from her headdress with a hand behind her back, so the hat would not fall into his lap.

"Even if he has been quarantined…" the words, spoken under his breath, emanated from behind the hood as he did not turn to her, "…disease is still rampant among their species. How does the saying go? 'The principal export of the Neimoidian home planet is Brainworm Rot Type C,'" he recited smugly. "Keep your distance."

Eva was incredulous he offered warning over chastisement. So she ventured hesitantly, "Your Highness…How does this exemption complicate your authority? When it's not necessary, as there is no shortage of resources now?" She added softly, "all the individuals of the Neimoidian species could survive."

To her amazement, Palpatine took up the argument. "No matter how distasteful their practices, why shouldn't they have the self determination to make their species stronger still?"

_Oh, as Emperor, you're a master of 'self determination.' _"Is the viewpoint of the Neimoidian majority inherently correct? That it should be imposed upon the helpless grubs? This is more than a cultural inclination we can't abide by. It's a precedent for the broader galaxy. The Neimoidians could be re-educated to understand."

"That would take generations and there will be no immediate credit. We're not even sure they'd ever embrace that point of view."

The two Neimoidians looked around haplessly. The clandestine conversation was becoming awkward, but Eva was now questioning, "Would it matter at all if this was cerebral? That is, if their behavior is hard wired instinctual versus cultural?"

"The law of our species, imposed on them? It would be interesting to know, even if the legal applications were tenuous."

"I agree."

"Have it researched. A report on their preferences from the beginning of their recorded history. But back to the issue at hand," his raspy voice continued, "Technology, medical advances, should not facilitate the weakening of a species." (and that bit was within earshot).

"What about a cyborg like Lord Vader?"

"No issue if he isn't affecting future generations. And Vader's not a good example- the damage did not come from internal weakness."

"True, but should flesh become less susceptible to fire, as the Neimoidians to disease? Medical intervention, like food, should never be withheld from those who want it." _The strength in your rule, is kindness._ She added, "All life, even the foul, is precious."

He turned and met her gaze directly. His face was unnervingly close. "And what if that 'foul' life was potentially threatening for the destruction of even greater numbers?" the tone of his voice had darkened. "Would you save it?"

Eva had been there before, and nothing had really changed. "I'd first consider the one life before me. There's no 'fate' and to destroy the life would not be allowing for free will."

Both of them looked back over to the two perplexed ambassadors and Eva whispered, "Are you going to continue to let the Neimoidians make up their own rules?"

She had pushed too far. Challenging him brought out the worst (or rather to him, the most delicious). A roguish smile played at his lips. "There is an alternative you have not considered, Cescily…to address this quandary. With more creative use of the law and a re-classification, I could legalize murder."


	10. Chapter 10 Flashback : Fencing Lesson

10 THE EPIC: FLASHBACK - FENCING LESSON

_"Doum? He's on your side! You're threatening him? And if I refuse?" Cescily almost raised her voice to Vader._

_"I'm sure, if we look into your affiliations, we can find more to pursued you." His deep mechanical tone reverberated, practically echoing off the metal walls of the tiny room aboard the Executor. For a moment, Cescily managed a direct, harsh stare. And in that instant she noticed that among all the precision surrounding the entire operation and Vader himself, his mask was not symmetrical- as though it was hand forged._

_A scoff and she turned away bewildered. She was wasn't about her. All that she would undertake, just to save Mag Doum. But his life was real. And for the rest, she had no idea what was really being asked— or what was in store for her._

* * *

_For two standard months after Arda-2, Cescily remained aboard the Executor for her training to infiltrate the Rebel Alliance. Almost all of it was physical, anticipating the device. However, she was coached to retain high function under extreme stress (which would later come in very handy, when the party went up in flames)._

_"Does he wear that all the time?" she asked Captain Piett. She wondered what went on inside that massive helmet. He would interject unhurried, studied comments. They displayed perfect logic and curiosity, but little emotion (beyond anger)._

_It was a privilege to even been seen conversing with Vader. Onlookers whispered. There was always tension. Cescily was so pleased she could respond without stuttering- that she could throw an intelligent thought together, and occasionally manage eye contact. If the light catches the shaded lenses a certain way, were it his eyes she could see?_

_He is eons apart from everyone, unreal physical scale and all else. The overwhelming ability. He incited inadequateness or fear in those around, depending on one's sense of competitiveness._

_In the gymnasium, she asked about the silver and black cylinder, always hanging from a clip on his belt._

_"It is the weapon of a Jedi."_

_'And what Jedi did you slay to take possession of it?' she wondered._

_He unclipped it to show her. She should have been honored, but she knew not. He ignited the blood red beam, and having nothing convenient to demonstrate, slashed the floor before her feet._

_She jumped wide eyed, incredulous of the damage and also at his casualness in inflicting it to his own ship. He tossed her a similar cylinder._

_"Practice units- they electrocute, but do not cut." And he brandished one just like it. Little doubt she would encounter fencing, but he wanted to test her spirit. He approached and Cescily backed away a step without realizing. Vader could be standing a perfectly reasonable distance, and it felt like an overwhelming invasion of personal space. If he moved in to close the gap, it was unbearable…_

_He stood ready. Saber lit and poised Feet apart. Briefly she considered the sight and for how many souls it had been their very last. She began to apologize for her inability to make a good fight, and he sent the first blow. The sting to her shoulder was incredible._

_"I understand," he teased._

_The saber swung her way again. She tried to jump back but it made contact. Then she quickly lit her own and took vicious, but unskilled swings at him. He warded them off with ease and laughed._

_'He actually laughed at me!'_

_The swiftness to which he moved his bulk with the weight of the armor, and the fluid air dance of the cape, was riveting. With one hand she reached out to try to hold his saber arm away so he could not strike her. The limb was hard and ungiving. It was mechanical. Underneath the barrier, where did the cyborg end and the person start? It was only logical that he must have some reason for wearing a full body suit with life-sustaining electronics. But in one respect he was like everyone else hiding their wounded insides. For some it was spice, or fighting a war. For him it was dark leather and metal._

_It was the wrong strategy. She should be using her weapon to push him away. He swatted her off with ease. Cescily was angry at him for the unfair blows he knew she could not fend off. She was angry at him for making them fight. She was angry at him not speaking to her like a real person, and she was angry at him for having no apparent weakness._

_At last he saw that she was exhausted and bruised and he stopped. "You'll feel better tomorrow."_

_Then he began to demonstrate the technique. He patiently walked her through defense positions and later moved on to offense. He showed her the patterns then had her repeat them again and again, letting every blow meet his body. He was inhuman._

* * *

And for her cooperation, Doum was alive and sitting behind a desk on Kalist VI- somehow always managing to be assigned the most perilous or unpleasant Imperial bases. For how many rebel, and otherwise lives lost? She should have known, but she focused on saving the one life meaningful to her. And then something had changed- instead of being a reason, it had become an excuse. She had tried to be a good person. She just wasn't.


	11. Chapter 11 The Emperor Gives a Pep Talk

11 The Epic: THE EMPEROR GIVES A PEP TALK

Aloo had called her into the conference room for a private discussion.

"Why do think he favors you, Eva?" His thin lips and sunken blue eyes gave away no expression. The spider veins in his face seemed more prominent for the matching purple and red of his velvet robes and scarlet shirt.

Eva was silent for a long moment. She so wished for Aloo's insight and for him to answer for her. _Amusement with head games? A slight to Vader?_ "I don't know."

Aloo wasn't going to voice a theory. For whatever grander scheme her appointment was a part, he'd just have to make things work as he was given them. Mercifully, she was actually good at the position. "Keep your emotions and your opinions in check. Don't get over familiar with the Emperor." _Never a more exquisitely able exploiter of weakness. Who do you think you are, Eva? Shrewder than prey? The entire galaxy has been duped._

She had never heard Aloo fail to use 'our.' He was signaling to listen very closely. "He's getting 'familiar' with me." Eva cast under her breath.

"Don't succumb. Stay on task and keep your distance. You wouldn't like what you'd see. Courtiers are not complicit."

Eva considered the remark. _Maybe you don't already have blood on your hands…_

* * *

_Everything undone. Scarlett everywhere. The robes of his Royal Guards had billowed aloft and covered the walls. And then the red ran downwards, long threads descending the abyss. It's not cloth - it's blood. My blood. Cescily was leaning over him. Almost crying. Frozen, unable to move._

The premonitions had worsened- haunting the one who was used to terrorizing others. Something had changed since the Nemoidians. Cescily seemed defeated, and for Palpatine, he hated the fact that he had to placate and fix her impression of him- that she wouldn't just do her duty without weighing the gravity, like 99% of the personal outside the door. And yet somehow he sensed, if she was that 99%, she'd be no use to him at all. She was problematic, but potentially valuable in a way he could not tell with clarity- an impression that Vader's weakness for her could somehow be his own salvation. A premonition of a day when she'd be left to pick up the pieces. He could not have known literally. _If you don't let anyone in, who's going to be on your side?_

* * *

"Ask Weather Control to hold back on the rain for the next week," the Emperor told her. He frowned at the state of his Coruscant garden, though Eva thought it looked lovely in the late afternoon's fiery peach glow. The day's audience had just concluded in the adoring throne room with ideal timing. Eva had handed the Emperor the clips. He would typically fuss over removing the spent flowers, but today he slowly and deliberately cut perfect long stemmed blossoms and handed them to her to hold.

He continued with his earlier conversational thread "…The Courtiers asked me 'do you really want an hot headed assassin within your own personal quarters?' I told them I wanted exactly that. I'd like to hear about the incident that earned your nickname- Tell me about the rebel Captain Leahmour and what happened those last days on Hoth."

Eva stared back. "He was nothing. Barely useful. Besides, what matter his demise? We should have all been dead soon. The Imperial attack was imminent."

"Yet you managed to make it more imminent still." He paused and looked directly to her, in that way that he would scantly offer, without as much as his body turned and the hood of the cloak obscuring half of his face. Eva was used to it now—the sight of him in broad daylight. Only scant similarity to the Chancellor's visage confirmed they were one in the same. She could not for the life of her, understand how his eyes had changed color.

He went on, "Failure one- lack of preparation. And then…Lord Vader ordered a strategic section of the base spared from bombardment, because of your proximity."

Eva caught the thinnest breath and held it as Palpatine took in her dismay. She clearly had no inkling. She was grappling with the significance, as well as the idea that Palpatine had been shadowing the motives of his most devoted.

"I would say you put Captain Leahmour to use," his lips twisted into a slight curl of contempt. "You put on a charade of your feelings for him for over two standard years, until he had you stationed at the main rebel base. One extreme, when you felt exactly the other. Something you won't be able to manage with me, I'm afraid." he cackled. "You want to know…so dearly…how far I can see through you."

"Tell me. Tell me what you see now. I welcome you." She was beyond caring.

He smiled, his slight sort of the kind, and took in a long breath. How simple and gratifying it was to have her exactly where he wished. And so he took the cue and reached in her mind. "I sense hatred." ( Why was it, that everyone around him seemed to be overflowing with anger and hatred? ) "For Captain Leahmour, for the rebels and for all of us too. It's not an acute hatred that I can use. It's a constant, dragging kind of loathing that gnaws at your insides like a cancer. You're still able to hide it, feigned pleasantries. You've become so very good at keeping everything inside. But there's one…isn't there? Who's escaped your disdain?" He set the shears down on the planter ledge and with two fingers he reached out to lightly touch her hand.

"Not Mag Doum for whom all of this was embarked upon." It was as though Palpatine was sorting the cast of her lifetime through his mind. "Luke Skywalker," he pronounced. "But it's not affection for him either. It's just… nothing."

Her arms were overflowing with flowers and Palpatine stopped adding to the pile. "Take those with you." He moved to the railing in pretense of the sunset view. The temperature was perfect and a gentle breeze stirred the cloth of his black robes. "When you left Arda-2 years ago you were very different person. All you wanted was for someone to watch over you. And instead, you were put out to fend for your very life. But you're far more self-reliant and interesting because of it. You have no idea, do you?"

Eva could feel her emotions start to tighten her throat. He was shifting through ancient history, which was nowhere near his direct experience and barely within her own consciousness- touching the depths of her soul.

"You wonder, if it was the Empire that built your hatred, then why hasn't it dispelled with the rewards you now reap? Was it that I abruptly called you from your standing as Captain and placed you here in a position of subservience?" He touched her hand again. "No... that's not it. You were very proud of your ship, but see the advantages to this. Is it Vader? As he won't acquiesce? Or perhaps, this is simply who've you become? Of all those you disdain, it's yourself you hate the most."

Tears were forming and she quickly looked away until she could get them under control.

"Think….think back to when you arrived."

She hadn't looked back. Not something she dwelled upon- the Cescily that first set foot aboard Imperial metal.

"Do you remember what you were like then? You won't let your family know where you are now, because you're ashamed of what you've done. But you don't want to be Cescily again. You wouldn't even recognize yourself."

He was right. 'Cescily' was as far away as anyone could be, but if he could help her see back there, a little window as if she'd picked up a journal written in her own hand -And how tiny and timid the writing would be. She was weak. She had been vain. She had been materialistic... and she was short sighted. Or maybe she was simply typical- but she was so far beyond that now. She was much more capable.

"Like me…you are alone. We've both lived double lives. Kept more secrets than truths." His voice trailed off. For a moment he watched the traffic of the few transports permitted in the secure airspace near the palace.

She moved alongside and encased his hand under her own. She was still fighting back emotion. "If I let my guard down, Don't use it to hurt me. I have no ill will towards you." _If you don't let anyone in, who's going to be on your side?_

He practically whispered, "Don't you see? How the hatred, your suffering, has made you alive? I'll give you your way, with the Nemoidian Grubs. I'll have mine with consistent rule."

* * *

The Lesser and Greater Courtiers were beginning to file into the dining hall, each pausing to set their headdress on the long table by the entrance. Even the sight of that casual procession made her smile. That night Eva sparkled, practically giddy form the day's events. "_He listened to me!"_ How many Nemoidian grubs had she helped save? She would receive no credit and that was fine. Any mention would impede future work…

The assembled sat down to an eight course meal to which they appreciated, but not in equal regards to the input of effort. Imperial Palace chefs were all over themselves to outdo all of Coruscant on the scale of the exotic and fussy, and their own previous heights as well. Even if you liked a particular dish, you'd not see it again for months and by then, you had forgotten about it.

As they dined without a second thought, a little girl on a desert planet was embarking on a life of opposite extreme- the most monotonous sustenance possible. Her mind would be left to grow in a wasteland as vivid as the place she actually inhabited. It would be more ironic still, for her intimate connection with the banquet's most prominent attendee. He would have thought little of any upbringing devoid of culture and education, himself a beneficiary of life long and aristocratic privilege.


	12. Chapter 12 Hoth Flashback

12 The Epic: Hoth flashback

_ "You remember me?"_

_ "Of course!" And Luke Skywalker actually hugged her in that tunnel made of snow packed walls. "You gave us the tour on Arda-2. I was told they found you, when they took apart that horrible Imperial labor camp. I wasn't with the ground invasion, but I helped with air support. I'm so sorry you ended up there. But I'm glad you're with us now."_

_ When she met Luke again, she would understand the point of the whole chaotic struggle- the meaning of the rebellion's effort through his eyes, beyond useless waste and killing. Her convictions hadn't really been with either side. Her point of view had simply been the task in front of her. And then there was Luke's enthusiasm. "You just got here right? Cm' on, I'll introduce you to people."_

* * *

_ At the mess hall table, Luke and his friends were trying to one up another on miserable home planets. As they ate, their breath was visible and they sat untypically close to one another on the benches. The space couldn't be heated up. The ceilings would melt. Within the base, only the bunks and refreshers had a semblance of warmth. "Well at least you had trees, Wedge. Cescily?"_

_ "No trees, just moss."_

_ "Chewie?"_

_ The towering creature made a sound she couldn't understand. Cescily had never seen a Wookie before arriving at Echo Base._

_ "No complaints," Luke interpreted._

_ "Tell me about how hot it was on Tatooine," Wedge asked._

_ "I'll get to that, but the sand! Even if you had all the doors shut, you could come into a room a couple of weeks later, and a pile of sand would have formed there, in the middle of the room. Blown in though you'd swear there were no cracks under the door. A lot of critters though, for the lack of vegetation. Then there were the sand people."_

_ "Sand People?" Cescily was curious._

_ "Yes. Tusken Raiders. Quite vicious. No going for evening drives. To look at the stars with a date." Luke smiled at her._

_ "Do Tusken Raiders inhabit other planets, beside Tatooine?"_

_ "Not that I'm aware of."_

_ Cescily leaned back in thought. Sand people took the life of Vader's mother. What a peculiar coincidence, that of all the planets, Luke and Vader came from the same one. _

_ There was another similarity to Vader; the silver cylinder clipped to his belt. "Luke is a Jedi knight in training," Wedge explained. "It is the weapon of a Jedi."_

_"I see."_

* * *

_Luke was more responsible than anyone for the 1,200,000 lives snuffed out on the Death Star. And yet somehow he reconciled his sanity, and carried on. And he carried on with disarming sensitivity and humility._

_There was a scarcely spoken bitterness aboard the Star Destroyer Executor, of the Death Star's destruction (a project of greater than 20 years of construction). Cescily had picked up on it and held in her thoughts too well to get all warm and cozy with the Alliance. It would work against her ability to be convincing. She would toil tirelessly, and do all that they asked of her to the best of her ability, but you couldn't hide whether or not your heart was behind it. And at that point she looked around, took stock, and set her sights on Captain Leahmour. After her two and a half standard years with the Rebels, he had the distinction of being both a path to her freedom and the hindrance. He was all too wary of being exploited, and gaining his trust was slow going. So many sleepless nights she had spent believing she was going to be cast aside, when in fact near the end Leahmour was proving more difficult to shake loose._

* * *

_ Outside Cescily stared at empty early morning skies, still grey from the last blizzard to pass over. A pile of snow needed to be removed before she could move her frustrations onto the damaged barometer relay. It hadn't worked since relocation. Echo Base had been established just a month before. But even her couple weeks there had dragged on unbearably. She needed to be reassigned to accounting, as it wouldn't be much longer before the rebels figured out she wasn't capable of repairing squat. There would be no help from the Executor, and not even from the holonet._

_ But the very fact that she stood there meant all was already lost. An attack was coming. She could console herself that her immediate woes were soon to be trivial. At any day, any moment, the ice pack roof would blow in and smother them all._

_ Expectantly, she looked back in the direction of the base less than a thousand meters away. Luke was missing, and he wasn't even in there. __His chances of survival slim to none. __She dwelled a moment on his inescapable optimism, recalling the last time he was seated across from her in the mess hall, poking fun at the cold food._

_ Communication with the Imperials hadn't really been reestablished when she reached Hoth. Nearing power reserves, she had sent word of her location when she arrived, and they had sent back a couple of directives. Were they waiting for her to complete them?_

_ She looked to the skies, and then back at the base again. It was at a head. Maybe even today. Then she was going to come out the other side (allowing for her survival). And would she be at ease with herself, as Luke? Or should she just come clean and warn the rebels- prolong the war? She had come so very close...to speaking up. And when she was torn to shreds inside, she had sought out Luke, but he was nowhere to be found._

_ And now she was beside herself for another reason. Captain Leahmour had been messaging that he had something serious to speak with her about. At that point she was guessing the game was up._

_ But she saw Leahmour approaching on foot from the bunker, and if he was willing to come see her out there alone, perhaps he was suspicious without proof. She pulled the wire out of her pocket and reached for her wrench. It would be brutal and personal, but she'd never have to bed him again._

* * *

_He was stronger and almost got the best of her. He had given up nothing__, but she couldn't allow the time to really try. Three deaths now by her own hands. The indirect were too difficult to count. She wanted to hide in her quarters- in her bunk with her face turned to the wall. There was one last message for Vader. The rebels could know in a matter of hours that their location was compromised._

* * *

Cescily was on shift. She stood in the dim beyond his office alcove, perfectly silent, but distracting none the less. Yet Palpatine didn't feel like dismissing her completely, as would have one of the other Courtiers. That was when the concession started. He would let her pass the time with the volumes from his personal library, to be 'conveniently near,' while he silently worked-writing books, reading reports, or fact checking to locate another precious Sith object.

Whereas Vader learned through firsthand experience, a large part of Palpatine's knowledge was gained by study. The texts of his library were unwittingly telling. Dark, very dark troubling material. Many were antique and actual books: Poems by the Croke Asenec._ Ick_. A few passages later, she put it back on the shelf. "Wasn't that banned?" That she knew, deeply impressed Palpatine. "…Something on the Sith…" She recognized a symbol on the cover as matching those on his burgundy velvet robe. He raised an eyebrow, but no matter; it wasn't written in a language she could read. Cescily pored over the few illustrations while he looked on from afar. He was surprised at himself, that he cared at all to gather her impressions of the materials. After a while, she seemed to notice and so settled down with a book on the history of the very Jedi temple they occupied.

For lighter tasks, he sometimes asked her put on music. They had come to realize they shared the same taste. She was perfectly content to stay in in the dim, windowless space, her back turned on Coruscant and the worlds beyond. Being penned in a cage with an idiosyncratic personality was preferable to many of the harrowing days she had endured. How very strange, that her quiet space had become one shared with the instigator of such upheaval, an unexpected sense of peace where her sins were absolved, because in comparison hers were nothing.


	13. Chapter 13 Flashback: 30 Days of Bliss

13 The Epic: FLASHBACK- 30 STANDARD DAYS OF BLISS

Note: This chapter contains violence.

Please take the time to leave some feedback!

* * *

_ It couldn't have been a coincidence. And the Executor wasn't even the kind of ship she would ultimately be assigned. She would serve under Admiral Piett for the completion of her training as Captain. For a standard month, she would be as near to Lord Vader as could be managed. The prospect was both thrilling and intimidating._

_ But when she boarded, Vader was on the planet Mustafar, and all she could do was stare at the smoldering black and angry red volatile planet from the bridge windows. She noted the movement of glowing lava flows were visible from space, and studied with misplaced concern, the planet's erratic orbit between two gas giants._

* * *

_ Two standard days later the message came. Vader asked to meet at a docking bay when her day's assignments were completed. She cherished the fleeting moments spent with him. And mercifully, when they were alone in the TIE/ag fighter, he let down the hardened exterior. He spoke to her with the familiarity he had talked her through Sriluur and in the aftermath of Hoth-as if no time had passed in-between._

_ She was strapped in the gunner's seat, back to his back, while he piloted the TIE fighter down to the dramatic surface of Mustafar. With dizzying closeness as he was prone to navigate, they swept over violent river flows of red and gold lava and smoky forests of dead iron trees. Vader even pointed out his fortress residence in a fly by, though he had no reason to land there- an isolated black spire perched on a cliff. Contained lava ran through its base, from a lake on the high side, and streamed far down the other like a waterfall._

_ At first Vader asked about her academy training on Imperial procedure, equipment and terminology, and he explained that she was fortunate to have Piett as an instructor. The Admiral was competent and would be fair. 'Fair,' in meaning he wouldn't begrudge her skipped ranks and the anomalies in her training. Piett was tuned in to the concept of a higher purpose, in addition to having skipped 5 ranks in an instant himself. Her future subordinate officers would also need to be selected with the same consideration. Vader wasn't concerned about her competence managing a single Star Destroyer to be assigned routine tasks until she gained experience. It was her allegiance to him instead of the cause, and her willingness to creatively fulfill an order as she saw fit, which troubled him (though he had to admit, sometimes her methods worked for the better)._

_ But shapeless dark rock formations here and there which supported structures long burned or abandoned from shifting flows, agitated his memory and he allowed himself to talk about darker times. The unsettled soul hinted of in the Sriluurian talks, manifested itself in the hellish inferno of a terrain he chose to inhabit._

_ "Mustafar was a grave turning point for me- where I left my old life with the Jedi order, and suffered the scars that have me dependent on this suit. In my overconfidence, I lost that battle…Lava is as sinister as it looks._

_ "I had a wife at the time. Senator Padmė Amidala, the former Queen of Naboo. Because of our positions, our marriage was clandestine- so hard won. I could not believe my blessings to have her…_

_ "She died from this place. Because of me." It needed to be said. He let Eva know the end of the story, because she knew the beginning and the middle. Though why she knew any of it, he was not quite sure himself. The telling was neither cathartic nor regrettable. But there was something she stirred in him, her clear acceptance and desire to know. Eva deserved to understand where she stood. He was grateful she recognized not to ask him to elaborate. Like the adept infiltrator she was, always responding to perfection. By then he wanted to shake off the melancholy of the past. Back to the now._

* * *

_ Vader stood in silence at the Executor's bridge windows. Eva resisted approaching him as that wasn't something anyone around would do, but eventually he called her to him. She followed his attention down to the green and teal moon below. Reverstat-1. There was insurrection in progress, independent of the Alliance. Where there was trouble, there was Vader. But what he wished to tell her came out of the blue._

_ "Mag Doum is assigned to a base on Reverstat. After your shift, you have permission to take a shuttle there. The base is under heightened alert. It's dangerous."_

_ That was when a normal person would have added 'be careful.' She waited in silence. Nothing came._

_ Eva was deflated to hear the offer. She had no interest in seeing Doum, and didn't want Vader to think otherwise. She hoped it wasn't the reason she was assigned the Executor in the first place._

_ Vader understood. He simply added, "A goodbye is in order."_

* * *

_ The group seated in the mining oversight office took her in, then made a point to get back to their work. When Mag saw her standing there in her grey-green uniform with her Captain's rank (donned prematurely, but who would know?), he silently rose and stared, confused and hopeful. The very first time she had seen him, she also stared, having not come across one of his species before. Greyish skin, a triangular head with wide mouth. His chin length silky black hair was his best feature. They had worked together and when he approached her, she was more surprised by their two decade age difference than his being another species. He sounded human. He moved human. One could forget. In her small world he was exotic and accomplished. In his, she was beautiful and intelligent. For numerous reasons, it was easier to keep their relationship unknown._

_ She couldn't believe the occasion was just awkward enough to make her jittery. At least she had time to work out what she'd say on the flight down. Eva asked Doum's commanding officer if she could borrow him for a while. Though Eva was not her supervisor, the rank disparity required reasonable accommodation._

_ Outside they went on a walkabout under the late day light. The clouds were tinted blue. The sun had just set for an evening that would last three standard days, but it was still warm and sticky. The small Imperial base seemed older and was carved out of a thick forest on flat terrain._

_ "I heard about the Emperor's award. I didn't know you were in the Navy or a Captain."_

_ "Do you know why I received the award?"_

_ "Not the details. Officially it says 'Exceptional service to the Emperor in aid of insurrection.'" _

_ She wasn't about to explain now. "Isn't it ironic? This…the Empire…was your thing."_

_ "But you've done well. I have to think it's because…"_

_ She cut him off with a look. This wasn't going where she wanted. Back in the day, Doum had attempted to use her for his own gain with the Empire. Then Vader ripped the two of them apart for his own means. Yet none of it mattered. She had to admit, she'd most likely do the same. The fact was, she enjoyed manipulating people. She supposed she was aggravated with Mag for not at least attempting to apologize._

_ Her hands were sweating in her black gloves. No other officers around seem to be wearing them, including Doum. "I'm here because the ship I'm assigned, is just up there. It wasn't a problem to come. I'm just here to check in on you."_

_ "I missed you. I didn't expect to see you again."_

_ Eva kept gravitating to walking the wooded edge, she had so little opportunity to be in natural outdoors._

_ "Don't go near the trees. That area is lain with explosives so the wall wouldn't have to be completed," Doum cautioned. "There's Cumatii insurgents out there that are wanting to disrupt the mining operations. In a civil war with the Cumatii that are behind the mining operations." He shook his head, then he motioned over with his chin. "There's a well traveled road over to the mining facility from the Imperial base. We can walk through there."_

* * *

_ The guarded entry gate was flanked with high walls which disappeared into the woods. Just beyond the opening, local Cumatii had set up a few stands to sell an odd assortment of goods to any Imperials who should want them. The Cumatii were a third again taller than humans. Their leathery tan skin hung in folds over their thin frames. Their cloths were adorned with metal clasps and amulets. Half of them had their faces covered in metal masks. The exposed faces had the eyes to the sides of their heads and long curved snouts and dangling cheek appendages. They cleared away their wares and shade structures for the long night, and were heading home down the dirt road which branched off just beyond the gate._

_ The paved road was used by heavy vehicles with cargo bins filled to the brim with waste. They would run from the processing facility beyond sight, to a turn off midway where by-products were dumped. Processed materials were taken directly through to the base. As they walked, the two of them would have to step aside for the occasionally passing equipment._

_ Eva was thinking about the official statement. Not for the exalted Emperor, she had started down this path to save Doum's life. One…insignificant…life. "I didn't do anything for the Emperor." She referenced Palpatine as symbolic, having no idea how soon and how much she'd be directly intertwined with extreme duty to him. That it had worked out after leaving Arda-2, was a miracle in her mind. Those left behind surly had their own difficulties. She should check on them, just as she was able to read up on Queen Amidala. Her new rank allowed unrestricted access to the holonet._

_ There was an explosion in the distance, in the direction of the base. There were mining operations near-by, but Doum thought more of it. Eva noticed the expression of his face, and called up the Executor on her commlink. An attack had begun. The contact aboard the Executor told her the gate to the base was to be closed as the Cumatii were approaching. She should head in the direction of the mining facility and a landing craft would catch up to her._

_ They looked back in the waning light, as the massive gate closed off the base entrance. Sirens wailed and Cumatti poured from the forest onto the road. They wore heavy armor and had missile launchers in tow. Those not on foot were in smaller units that reminded Eva of the Imperial's All Terrain Tactical Enforcers._

_ Doum ducked into the tree line as Eva followed before they were sighted. She called after him, "Is there an isolated clearing on the way- better than the road?"_

_ "The scrapyard."_

_ "Show me the way!" A quick look back through the edge of the trees, and she could see the Cumatii shooting over the gate, not at it. Stray blaster shots made their way in their direction. She turned to get away. It was darker still under the tall canopies. The ground was soft and uneven with root bulbs that grew up in dome shapes along the base of the trees._

_ "They may not be trying to get in. They could be trying to hold in the Imperial ground defense while they get the mine." The roar of tie fighters and low altitude gunships cut out her last words. She could still see sparks of light from blasters through the trees. Imperial forces were landing beyond, to trap the Cumatii against the gate. Up ahead, there were more explosions where the attack on the mining facility began. _

_ Mag was falling behind and she practically screamed out loud in frustration. But in that moment she was grateful to Vader, who wouldn't make allowances in her fitness requirements despite her being an officer. She had felt treated as child, but the time consuming workouts were paying off huge._

_ Randoms shots slipped past the spindly tree trunks, seemingly aimed at them. Eva dunked behind a tree and looked back in the blackness for Doum. She felt a pang of indecision to wait for him. She could not make him run faster, but she supposed she had to hold back to help cover for him. She paused briefly to call up the Executor, to get a handle on the offensive movement and her best course. They could determine her location by her commlink._

_ Movement caught her eye, as some of the distant dark tree trunks appeared to sway. The motion seemed morph into a gait growing near as she tried to work out what she was seeing. Blaster fire shot down at from above. Doum returned fire and from the flickers of light she could see he was aiming at a rider perched high atop a beast with stilt like legs. She followed suit, and they must have hit both. The poor animal came crashing down with painfully squealed calls, break_ing some o_f the trees on its way. The fallen canopy knocked her to the ground. She was in the process of freeing herself when she sensed someone approaching. She grasped the ground around her, seeking her blaster, and at the last second she turned and pulled back as a knife hit her hip. She screamed out in pain, and caught the hilt with her hands. With effort, she pulled it free and aimed for her attacker. The first blow hit __armor__. The second blow hit home. It was his turn to squeal. Eva kicked at the branches and freed herself. If the Cumatii had not just fallen from a great height or located his blaster, she might not have bested him. Doum had to cross the felled trees to reach her as the beast continued to moan. "They have night vision." He whispered._

_She understood then, why he was able to zero in on her. This was not a battle to fight. She simply need to survive. "What was that?" Another one of the creatures seemed to be coming up from behind._

_ "A common Sciatiss. That's why the tree canopy is up so high."_

_ Eva was still on the ground, her hip bleeding. Doum's arm had been grazed by one of the blaster shots. Even so, from the sound of the blasts, he decided he might actually be better off outside the base. "Let's go." _

_Fires blazed against the pitch black sky where the trees made way for a clearing. Eva had reached the scrap yard. It looked like the action had had already passed through as the area was in shambles. The byproducts were highly flammable and the very dirt burned. What had started out as a pleasant evening had deteriorated with incredible swiftness into hellish destruction. Her last communication with the Executor had the area clear enough to be a rendezvous point, but from somewhere off to the side she could hear heavy equipment approaching. Mag was nowhere to be seen, but she guessed he'd come up behind soon._

_ She ducked between the oversized legs of an All Terrain Recon Transport tipped on its side against a berm, then stepped back into the crevice between the legs and undercarriage for cover. In the few moments she was there, the sounds of the onslaught seem to intensify as though they were nearing, or possibly retreating past. Voices suddenly seemed extremely close. A couple armed Cumatii passed by, but if she shot at them it would only give her away. She was beginning to feel weakening from the blood loss. It had been too eventful to think about the accompanying pain. She pulled out her commlink again. A third Cumatii passed, but this one turned to look at her. She opened fire and leaned out to take out his two companions. The others closed in and the rest was a blur._

_ The black shadow rose up on top of the bank behind her, darkening out the chaos and flames beyond. He immediately drew the ire and intense fire from the enemy before him. The living tempest was better discernible when the blood red saber was ignited, its scarlet radiance transcending the darkness. Flashes of blaster light descended from every direction. The saber swirled everywhere at once, changing course to meet every threat. Voices screamed in agony. She had never witnessed anything like it. There would not have been mercy even if they __weren't__ the instigators. There would certainly be no mercy now. He continued on his path, unperturbed, stepping over the bodies of the victims already fallen by his ruthless attack. The support troops filled in from behind and finished the job. Vader returned to her. His gauntleted hand grasped her upper arm and yanked her up out of her hiding place, and when her feet moved too slow, he had swooped her up and carried her._

* * *

_ " 'Captain' Eva… " Vader had noted the rank she had worn, "…you will feel much better tomorrow."_

_ "Did Doum survive?" she finally thought to ask._

_ Vader messaged one of his officers to check that he had. "Non life threatening injuries."_

_ Against the back drop of an all white medical bay, his black figure was seated by her bedside. Above the ringing in her ears that had not yet subsided, she listened to his breathing. The most exquisite sound she could possibly imagine. He was filthier than she'd ever seen him. Marked with grey ash, his black cape spotted blacker still; her own blood. Eva was both smitten and humiliated. She had turned her face to the wall, because at the moment, the latter was more at play. Everything was so easy for him._

_ "I won't be on the Executor your remaining time here."_

_ She immediately looked back. So this was it. A moment more, and hope relinquished...__Take me with you._


	14. Chapter 14 The Test

14 The Epic: THE TEST

**Note: This chapter contains violence.**

_Cescily and Luke both lay on their backs in the snow, gazing up in wonder at the charged atmospheric display that lit Hoth's horizon and made it briefly possible to ride a Tauntaun at night._

_"Our circumstances are alike," Luke added. "I mean, we're the same age. One day we were doing our thing in the backwater. The next day we were pulled into something important and so much bigger than ourselves."_

_"But there's something about you Luke. I mean I don't believe in fate, but you're training to be a Jedi. Once you got on this path, I don't think there was a falling off. I was just in the wrong place.…I don't belong here."_

_"What kind of nonsense is that?"_

_"It's incredible though, that we get to see this?" She loved the moment, the still, soundless night occasional broken by a comforting bleat from the tauntauns._

_Luke added wistfully, "Sometimes this path I'm on scares the daylight's out of me. But when it comes right down to it, somehow I'm able to do what needs to be done. That is, I have before and just know I can. My Uncle would have just called it recklessness."_

_Cescily thought of the way it was similar for her. The trepidation Vader tried to coax out of her, had indeed been lost. But she understood she had not gained nerve. She had lost the will to exist._

* * *

For all his meditation, Palpatine could only sense that it did not matter what Cescily felt for Vader, only what he thought of her. He would proceed. Not ideal, but she was the best material available.

Cescily departed the throne room turbolift with a hover tray set with the requested tea service. She solemnly approached half way to the dais steps and sunk to a full knee on the floor bow. Palpatine was midway through a holographic transmission, standing by the oversized screen on the dais. Remotely, Imperial Advisor Kren Blista-Vanee watched on as the Emperor slowly turned his head away. He could not see what had caught Palpatine's attention, but patiently waited for his response.

The Emperor was absorbed in the profound significance of the moment. Cescily was there, on time, presenting herself with the utmost trust. Believing she had conceded today to place her fate in his palm, when in fact her fate was always in his hands. Her dread was not lost on him. This would be a small act in his opera, but one poignant for the intimacy of the actors. His plans rarely went awry. If they did, the obstacle was as fleeting as his displeasure. For he always found a way to turn anything, everything, ultimately to his advantage. Where others failed to adapt, panicked, or surrendered or in the face of adversity, he conquered one way or another.

* * *

Vader sensed something was off. Eva stood next to a hover tray with tea, her purple gloved fingers intertwined in a pose as formal as the four crimson Royal Guards statues. Her breath was too hurried for a position of rest, but the discussion had taken a dark tone. She must have been wondering why she was still present.

"On Bespin, did you confront Skywalker?"

Vader brought his eyes back to Palpatine, slouched on his throne. His face was buried in its shadow but for a faint glint of gold. The black, blank slate of space filled the window behind him. The stars were frozen, as the Eclipse was unmoving.

"No, Master."

"My operatives with the Rebel Alliance…tell me otherwise." The Emperor stated matter-of-fact.

Eva's couldn't tell if Vader was looking in her direction. His helmet remained still. She slowly shook her head. No- she wasn't with the rebels by then. He knew.

Vader considered if Palpatine was attempting to flush him out. He would not acknowledge the inherent accusation. Palpatine hoarded his secrets as well- of tantalizing mystic Sith abilities which he fed fleeting glimpses. They kept Vader in thrall and uncertain of their relative strengths. Long ago promises had yet to come to pass. Palpatine dangled offerings of immortality, powers of infinite magnitude, and made cryptic references to the parthenogenesis mystery behind Vader's very existence.

Palpatine continued with measured words. The next part was tantamount. "If Skywalker was turned to the dark side, would you not try to sway his allegiance to you, instead of me? Since he is your son."

Vader did not answer. There was no response possible that would placate.

"Skywalker would rather attempt suicide, than walk with you. What a personal affront, that must have been."

Palpatine wasn't fishing. Somehow he knew.

Distressed, Eva watched Vader. He hadn't told her Luke was his son. While she had been wallowing in self-pity aboard the Executor in the days after Luke's escape, taking spice and drinking, Vader had been coping with that.

"Neither would Padmė …so I'm afraid you're stuck with me," the Emperor's raspy voice broke the silence and he had leaned forward. "…Which brings in the question of your unfaltering obeisance. Should we have a second chance at Skywalker, could I trust father and son together?"

If things couldn't possibly get worse, Palpatine looked directly to her with a ghost of a smile. "Then there is also, Eva's failure on Hoth, which has never been accounted for. Without the ill prepared attack her hot headedness initiated, the Rebel Alliance would have been annihilated, then…and there."

The color drained from Eva's face, and she swayed slightly. Nothing could be read from Vader's mask, but his breathing became erratic, and almost subsided completely.

"Her allegiance has never fully been with us," Palpatine added. "…Or perhaps it's simply incompetence. Either way…"

Fate hung in the air, and Palpatine looked back to Vader. "Which brings me to this. A demonstration of your acquiesce. Many have fallen at our feet, for far less a disappointment.…A sacrifice is in order."

He barked at his master, "That is _not_ justified!"

"Am I not to try your willingness to turn that saber on me?" he answered hauntingly. "I won't ask a second time." In the stillness that followed, Palpatine's anger was simmering, his mouth slightly open as he ground his teeth in anticipation.

Vader looked to her then again to the Emperor, His breathing had quickened.

_So that's it._ Eva turned numb. She reached over to the corner of the hover tray for stability and tipped its contents to the floor where they shattered.

Then after a deafening silence, there was the hum of a light saber. Vader was motioning her to join him, but she backed away.

"I'm sorry, but it must be done." His broken voice was barely audible.

Her face was drawn in unbearable anguish, as he stepped forward to clasp her arm. Her headdress tumbled off when she collapsed, leaving her weight suspended by his grip. "Vader…you can't, can't!…" He tried to pull her up to standing position.

The Emperor looked on, fascinated.

"Please don't resist. Stand still." Vader slowly let go of her arm. The saber now in both his hands, he raised it above her. She could scarcely stand. Her tears streamed now. Eyes pleading, chin quivering.

"Don't cut her down the middle," Palpatine spat. "This place will be a mess."

"She could still be conscious, for a time after decapitation."

An adamant frown and the Emperor shook his head.

Vader again gently took her arm and pulled her near him. He lowered himself to one knee, and placed her seated on his other thigh. With his left arm draped across her shoulder, he held her tight and still to his body. The last time she had been in his embrace, he was saving her. "This is not my wish. Eva…no one will ever take your place. Forgive me." The saber was raised to the height of her head behind her, the hilt practically at her neck. She could feel its heat on the back of her head. And then came the sound, the stomach churning realization the saber was in motion, as he swung away, then back again…

"Cease."

Vader threw the saber across the room and stood angrily.

"It's not necessary," Palpatine added.

Eva dropped to the floor, spent and hardly able to breathe. She placed a hand on the back of her neck and felt it burned. If her hair had not been worn up, it would have been cut too.

Vader's deep voice rumbled, "How dare you put me on trial! My strength has always served you." Vader spun around, to turn his back to the Emperor.

"Yes…yes. I see that now. I was wrong to test you, my devout, invaluable friend." He leaned back into the throne.

The hilt of his saber flew back to his fist as Vader descended the steps to the turbolift. "Eva, come with me."

"She stays here. Her shift isn't over." The growl emanated from the nearly obscured face.

Eva was pulling herself to her feet, glaring at the Emperor.

The turbolift doors parted and Vader swiftly entered and turned, catching last sight of the Emperor's dark frown to her insolence, as she was approaching him threateningly.

Vader was gone.

Eva's barely functioning legs gave out, and she fell to her knees in a full bow.

"Bravo! I haven't seen better acting at the Galaxies Opera."

Eva gathered her breath. She was still shaking too much to speak clearly, "I must say the same to you as well, your Eminence."

"With this rehearsal, it appears my concerns have been resolved. Though …I'm not quite sure you have what you wanted to hear. But do not be too unforgiving of him, for following orders." Vader will always be a slave. He extended his hand, letting his cold fingers graze her cheek.

She detested that he asked her to deceive Vader that way, on top of the unfathomable number of ways it could have gone wrong. It was unnecessary, cruel, and surely anything gleaned by the act would be outweighed by Vader's increased resentment. _Your pet is going to bite you, and it doesn't take a clairvoyant to see that._

Palpatine had silenced her objections with a raised hand and asked, "Don't you trust me, Cescily?" He had orchestrated control of the galaxy, after all.

She hadn't told Vader of the scheme beforehand, as perhaps that too was a test of her obedience. She wouldn't tell Vader now, because she was ashamed. Curious though, that Palpatine had let her in on the ploy beforehand, when it wasn't necessary. He would have not needed to rely on her 'acting' ( which beyond a point became genuine, as she had not been shown the script). But for whatever reason, Palpatine did not care to ruin her impression of him (further).

* * *

When was a vacation more deserved? Eva served herself tea, at the little table just beyond the glass reception room doors. This was now her beautiful garden, at her exquisite residence in the Theed city center on Naboo. It took her breath away, that The Emperor had given her his childhood home- purchased from his cousin some months before, so a stranger could not gloat they were living there. But even as Eva thanked Palpatine, she had the impertinence to ask for another concession as well.

First the Neimoidian baby grubs. Now retraction of sentient classifications back to the Republic era guidelines. Wookies would no longer be treated as slaves.


	15. Chapter 15 (Pt 2 THE FALL)

The Epic:

PART 2- THE FALL

_They'll never catch Luke again_, Eva told herself. She had led them to Skywalker and he slipped right by. He eluded Vader again on Bespin. And what were they thinking? Luke was of an altogether different mindset than Vader and Palpatine, and certainly wouldn't join forces. Though she hardly knew him, it was clear every fiber of Luke's being opposed them.

She thought back to her time at Echo Base. She had been given two directives before the Imperial invasion. One was to find out where rebels would regroup in the event of an attack- a near impossible task considering that kind of information wasn't bounced around before an actual attack was underway. It wasn't on Captain Leahmour's datapad and he wouldn't give it up in his dying breath. The other directive was easy- 'get close to Luke, but not _too_ close.' Whatever that meant. Had Vader delayed the invasion for personal motives? The Emperor steaming over Hoth might not be entirely her fault after all.

Then of course, there was that far-fetched, impossible to fathom revelation. Given enough time at Echo Base she could have pieced together the relationship. Surely she would have learned that a mother named Shmi who was abducted by Tusken Raiders, was buried in Luke's Tatooine yard. The name Anakin Skywalker had not been revealed to her. But at last she looked upon an old image of the handsome face belonging to the 'deceased' Jedi- the ghost no research on Padmė would bear revelation. And where Anakin disappeared from record, Vader rose…

The youthful face was betrothed to someone else. And now it was lost in a way mere age could not compare. Did Vader care, or did the mask present an impression even more suited to his taste?

He had been silent since the incident in the Throne Room, and her own feelings were tempered. She reminded herself, she mustn't read too much into the sharing of it all. She was merely a privileged onlooker.

* * *

There was always Aloo to answer to. That evening, he and Eva stood on the Palace's elevated landing platform awaiting the Emperor's shuttle. It was raining and they both held umbrellas.

Aloo sucked the air through his teeth and went on, "…You won't be on duty, so you won't be wearing your Courtier robes that evening. Our Emperor has also invited Marius. He referenced him as 'your friend' and mentioned his appreciation of opera as well."

"Honestly, I don't know where he got all that." Eva spilled off defensively.

"Marius will be on duty, so don't fuss over our Emperor in public. I'll be at the theater, but in another box. There has been considerable squabbling over the seats near our Emperor."

Eva stood at the precipitous edge of the platform, watching the drops descend to the goings on far below. "Why aren't we in the covered hanger?"

Aloo, still stiff at attention and focused on the sky, did not respond.

The hanger was less private she decided. Eva lowered her head, trying to think of anything to show Aloo deference and acknowledge the complications she'd unwittingly caused. Aloo knew of the 'house present.' Did he know of the incident in the Throne Room? It was up to the Emperor to tell.

Earlier, Aloo had asked of Palpatine; "To be equitable, what will you grant the other Courtiers?"

"Nothing!"

Aloo disliked having to state the obvious. "Such a gift will inspire resentment. Poison in those closest to you."

"The other Greater Courtiers are already too indulged. Eva doesn't come from a wealthy family."

"Might I propose a remedy?" Aloo slowly continued, "…that would surly mitigate envy?"

And then Palpatine had listened with great interest, as hesitance in Aloo was rare…

* * *

Aloo motioned Eva to his side when he spotted the shuttle in the distance. "My obligations to our Emperor still allow concern for you," he told her solemnly.

_Here it comes._

"Whatever you think you have suffered, he has been tortured. However clever you believe yourself, he is five steps ahead of you. You've embraced chaos, and he has worked through every conceivable contingency. If you believe yourself entitled, he owes us nothing. Our existence is at his patience, as we are never worthy nor adequate. You are not playing with fire here, Eva. You're playing with hell."

* * *

"Rise, Eva," Palpatine quietly spoke as he passed by.

The front of her courtier's robes were now sopping wet from the knees down.

"Back from Naboo- Was the house suitable?" He asked as a matter of formality, with no real interest. Eva hurried along behind between the Emperor and his troops, trying to provide cover with her umbrella. Aloo shook his head at her attempts and lowered his eyes to the containers she had been given to carry, as if they were more important.

"Perfect, your Eminence. And also your lake house. Thank you for allowing my use." _Be appreciative without trying him with gushing._

"Consider it yours as well. No notable resident of Theed is without one, and I have no intention of ever returning. My childhood there was less than blissful."

At the three open turbolifts, stood Palpatine's closest assistant, Grand Vizier Sate Pestage. The Emperor motioned the Royal Guards aside in favor of Pestage and herself. When the doors closed the Emperor's unnaturally deep voice toned, "The new Death Star is near complete. In a standard month, we will relocate to the battle station while I oversee the end construction of this historic accomplishment." Palpatine looked to her. She held the gaze of his surreal golden eyes in the small space. "There is a rebel sympathizer I would like to have made aware of this. In two week's time, would be ideal. It is Marius' Bothan politician acquaintance. Have you chance to meet him?"

"Yes, your Highness. Briefly. Does Marius know?"

"Marius has not fallen out of line. Regarding the politician, you won't even have to lie so the asset will still be viable."

When the turbolift doors opened she exited first, distracted without thinking. _Marius' days were numbered._ Few attachments here, and they were taking him from her. What was she thinking? It would be much worse for Marius.

* * *

It wasn't that she was young or alluring that he favored Cescily (and much of the latter was hidden by the Courtier robes). _What a simplistic supposition!_ Palpatine sensed her attentiveness was more genuine than the rest of the Courtiers. As the others, Cescily wanted something. But he concluded that it was insight and not for ulterior motives.

Aloo had taken his wet robe and left. Alone, the conversation turned. "Your affection for Vader eroded, did it not? Would someone possess a rotten soul or character strength to put the cause above their own partiality? Though you justify it as following a command. Like leading us to your cherished Luke."

Eva silently considered his words, not following his train of thought. And then it occurred to her- Vader had behaved no differently than herself; she had put Luke, someone she cared about, in peril on an order.

He added, "I can't manipulate Vader's state of mind, but with your acquiescence I could force him to his knee before you. A fitting rebuke for his behavior."

Again she couldn't guess to what he was alluding, but Palpatine had not cast off the statement casually. "What was Padmė like?" she hesitantly asked.

Cescily's overfamiliarity both prickled and titillated him. Palpatine answered after a moment, his voice considerably softened. "You would not have liked her. Naïve. So hell bent insistent on the rights of others, while irritatingly self-righteous. All business. No charm. Honestly, beyond the surface- a slave's obsession with a beautiful queen, a senator's infatuation with her handsome and able protector- I can't understand the attraction between them. But evidently it was profound...And now…what remnants of feeling Vader has for her- where does passion end and his consuming guilt begin? But what am I to know, of matters of the heart?" Palpatine offered her a smile. He sensed that Cescily was quite capable of reconciling the intimate statement with the scathed face of the aged.

"What did he do to Padmė?" Eva held her breath.

"He killed her, simple as that. In a climax of self-fulfilling prophecy. Clairvoyance ill-handled by the inexperienced. Oh, I'm sure _he didn't mean it_." Palpatine's voice twisted into a sinister tease. "Distrust. A great love couldn't overcome their innate differences. The child slave, in a wasteland skirting the law, experienced the ruthlessness of all creatures…and his beloved mother tortured to death by savages. Then Amidala, her idyllic life in the most beautiful of settings, granted extreme honors and a strong voice at so early an age. She could not understand how citizens would give up some self-determination for protection from cruelty. Lord Vader knows the importance of control and strength. And he knows what to do with a savage." The last seethed on the verge of a hiss.

Eva wondered if the Emperor knew the answer to his own question: How broken was Vader over Padmė still? If Palpatine could dig into Vader's mind he wasn't telling. But he sensed cracks in Vader's armor. A bit of softness manifesting itself- by his definition 'weakness.' Or possibly there was some of Anakin always buried there.

Perhaps Palpatine had been reading her thoughts even then, as he added, "Lord Vader is beyond redemption to care for another. But you will have to find that out for yourself." _Sith don't have loved ones, foolish child._


End file.
